What comes out as an undisputed observation about the push for federalism is that the Filipino people who will ultimately decide on its fate are, as of today, still largely unaware about it.
Despite attempts by the ruling party, PDP-Laban, to inform the people about its merits, federalism has yet to ring a big bell. Only in Mindanao, where it sounds like a clarion call against the perennial neglect (until the Duterte era) of the perennially-touted “land of promise” is federalism acceptable, marginally at that.
Pulse Asia in its mid-June research said that 67 percent of those asked about Charter change rejected the idea of amending the present charter and replacing the current system with a federal setup. In its first quarter reading, 64 percent opposed. It is a statistical tie, but note that the last three months was when the Consultative Commission was periodically informing the public through media about its proposals.
Thirty percent said they are “open” to Charter change, but not yet. It’s a neither-here-nor-there answer, the typical Pinoy reaction to change, “kumbinsihin mo muna ako.”
Those who stated their preference for Charter change dropped by 5-percentage points, June versus March.
Sure, President Duterte vowed that he would prefer a federalist setup as against the current unitary system where political and economic power is centralized in what Bisayans decry as “imperialist Manila.” He said that even during the campaign, but that was not why people elected him president.
People went for the Davao City mayor because he had a string of “can do” accomplishments in the southern metropolis which proved that he would be a “will-do” leader of the entire country. Not because they went ga-ga over federalism. They did not even comprehend then. Until now, few still comprehend what federalism is all about.
Overwhelmed by the enormity of the drug problem, burdened by the incompetence and corruption of officialdom, and a country weighed down by internecine and separatist drives, Duterte had to act on these things first.
Which is why launching an information campaign about federalism has yet to be done officially and intensively. Even the convening of a study group to synthesize the amendments to the Constitution took the backburner, and was only begun in earnest this year. Congress itself at the early stages could not make up its mind on whether to convene a constituent assembly as a single assemblage voting as one or separately. To break the impasse, the Senate and the House decided to put the matter to later decision, and discuss substantive issues regarding the amendments first. Thus, the commission headed by CJ Reynato Puno to flesh out the substance.
It’s been barely a month since the output of that study commission came out. Now the House and the Senate are arguing about the manner of formally amending, to the point where two controversial issues have been mouthed by the House: One, that the 2019 elections should be postponed so as to allow the proposed constituent assembly time to make the needed amendments ready for a plebiscite. Indeed, the timeline is tough. Forcing through in time for simultaneous elections and ratification by May of 2019, just 10 months from now, is completely unrealistic.
The second, even more controversial, proposal is to send the issue directly to the people through a people’s initiative, which the current Constitution has enumerated as another means of amendment. That was attempted during GMA’s time as before her in FVR’s as well—for naught.
To be fair, the House leadership is right on the paucity of time. They have a 2019 budget to tackle, and various non-too-easy legislation on their plate, such as the Part Two of TRAIN, the rice tarrification amendment, the straightening-out of labor contractualization, all of which impact massively on the economy, which could really be “in the doldrums” if not acted upon soon.
I have myself begun to have serious misgivings about federalism, which I supported in this space, and which even during Cory Aquino’s time, I proposed along with then vice president Salvador H. Laurel and tycoon Enrique Zobel, as secretary-general of the Unlad Movement they founded together with Senator Juan Ponce Enrile.
In this space, I have questioned the penchant to divide the country into federal component states along ethno-linguistic lines, the main reason being these are not, and do not have the capability within even two generations from now, to become economically independent with federalism. I thus proposed in this space a more economically balanced division: One for all provinces north of Metro Manila, another for all provinces of Luzon south of it, a third for the entire Visayas, a fourth for all of Mindanao, a fifth for the Bangsamoro, and a special autonomous region to cover Metro Manila.
I also proposed in this space the need for a longer transition period, precisely because it is not easy to effect this kind of systemic change. Thus, the transitory provisions in the proposed new constitution would be critical. A time frame defined as short as between ratification to June 30, 2022 would be impractical and discombobulating both to the economy and the body politic.
There is no shame in back-tracking for now on a campaign promise. As I stated here earlier, people did not vote for Duterte because they want federalism. And the President has shown that he is capable of changing his position on major issues.
A time out is resorted to whether in sports or in life itself. A wise coach knows when to call for it. And that, I submit, is what we ought to do in the meantime.
Debate and discuss the amendment proposals more with an engaged public, and with an open mind. As politics, and life itself is subject to reasoned and reasonable compromise, so too must such an earth-shaking change be an exercise in full information and open discussion.
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On the educational front, we are pleased to announce that starting August, Meco in partnership with the Philippine Science High School (main campus) will launch a Mandarin Language Teaching Program tailored for the needs of our science and math senior high students.
Taiwan has achieved remarkable strides in science and technology education, training and research, and their universities are opening doors to Filipino students. Meco anticipates a growing number of undergraduate scholarships from Taiwan universities to become available for Filipino high school graduates, aside from post-graduate work. We want our young graduates to look towards science and applied math courses, more than law or the social sciences, and Taiwan, so near at that, is helping out.
When classes open this August at the PSHS, Mandarin classes will be offered as an elective course for Grade 10 students, with 160 hours of Basic Mandarin before proceeding to intermediate Mandarin in the succeeding year. By their 12th year, they will go into Advanced Mandarin.
At the end of each school year, the best-performing students will be given the opportunity to go on a two-week immersion/exposure program to any agency, company or research facility in Taiwan specializing on technological innovation, agriculture, fisheries, engineering, robotics/artificial intelligence, environmental studies and renewable energy. This would help Grade 10 students determine and better identify the field of specialization they would adopt as the country’s future scientists and applied math experts.
Additionally, they would learn to be proficient in the second most useful language in the world.