Part III
Continued from Sunday
PDU30 CORE’S federalist pitch
The President Duterte Constitutional Reforms towards Federalism (PDU30 CORE) is at the vanguard of the campaign to win support for Federalism.
Headed by former Arroyo spokesperson Gary Olivar and lawyer Raul
Lambino, the group defines federalism as a form of government where:
– Sovereignty is constitutionally shared between a central authority and states or regions;
– The national government focuses on foreign relations, national security and monetary policy; and
– Autonomous regions or states are responsible for delivery of public goods and social services and local economic development.
Imagined outcomes
The change from a unitary to federal system, PDU30 CORE says, will result in faster decision making, give the regions more power over funds and resources, and promote specialization.
It will also lead to the decongestion of Metro Manila, bring the government closer to the people, enhance political stability and encourage competition between states.
The shift to a parliamentary system, on the other hand, will prevent gridlock and promote consensus in governance, promote cohesive and disciplined political parties, and promote a broader-based and inclusive politics through a multi-party system.
PDU30 CORE cites Mexico, United States, Canada, Brazil, Malaysia, Germany, India, and Australia as models the Philippines can learn from in establishing its own Federal Republic.
One model it proposes—which has a bicameral parliamentary with a Prime Minister and President—hews closely to the model suggested by President Duterte.
It also favors the House-backed proposal to go the Constitutional Assembly route rather than the Constitutional Convention which then-candidate Duterte had preferred.
PDU30 CORE says the powers of the Central and Regional governments will be defined in the new constitution.
It says, however, that defense and other primary services will be the responsibility of the national government. Services such as education and health will be shared responsibilities of national and local governments while tertiary services such as policing, agriculture, and fire protection will be under the local governments.
Preconditions
PDU30 CORE proposes a four-stage process to achieve full and effective implementation of Federalism in the country.
—The first phase requires the passage of three measures and adoption of electoral reforms. The three proposed laws are:
1. A political party development and financing law
2. An anti-dynasty law, and
3. A freedom of information law
—Once this is achieved, the second phase would be the adoption of a parliamentary system (also known as Party Government) where executive and legislative powers are fused in a bicameral parliament headed by a Prime Minister and a President who is head of state.
—The third phase would involve the creation of the federal states whereby “citizens within a contiguous territory decide in a referendum whether or not to proceed to autonomous status.”
If they decide to do so, petitions for autonomy are sent to the national parliament by the local legislative assemblies within the territory.
Parliament then enacts an organic law for that territory defining its land area, powers, obligations, and sources of revenue (taxes).
The autonomous territory then writes its own Constitution.
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Spain’s ‘Estado de las autonomias’
While moves to amend the charter have focused on federalism as a model to empower the the country’s regions, Spain’s successful shift from dictatorship under Generalissimo Franco to an Estado de las Autonomias appears to have escaped the attention of the country’s charter change prime movers.
There were remarkable parallels between Spain and the Philippines in the last half of the 20th century. Both nations were ruled by strongmen. Both framed new constitutions following the democratic restoration. Both faced separatist, insurgent movements. Both faced unrest in the armed forces.
Both recognized the demands of historical communities (Spain’s Euskadi (Basque), Galicia, and Catalunya and the Philippines’ Bangsamoro and Cordillera) and enshrined the principle of autonomy in their new constitutions.
But Spain would go much further, for it would detail in the constitution the powers of the central government and the autonomous communities and cities and the painstaking process of implementing the establishment of the Estado de las Autonomias.
Today, the Kingdom of Spain has transformed itself into a State with a central government, 17 autonomous regions and nationalities including the capital, Madrid, and the 2 autonomous cities of Melilla and Ceuta.
The Spanish experiment has been described as a “federation without federalism”—a highly decentralized, unitary state.
It is said to be a State “in fieri” (state of becoming).
“Even the most artificially created of the autonomous communities, a real sense of identity has grown…the outward and visible evidence of regional flags, institutions and bureaucracies is everywhere,” says scholar David Brighty.
Since the process of devolution began with the ratification of the Spanish constitution in 1978, three years after the death of Franco, Spain has survived a debilitating recession and threats of secession and emerged stronger belying fears that autonomy would lead to a break-up of the Kingdom.
A historic compromise
Spain’s adoption of the autonomy constitution was a product of a “negotiated compromise” among the Kingdom’s major political forces, the historian Raymond Carr wrote.
It was King Juan Carlos I, as successor of Franco and head of state, who steered the Kingdom back to democracy and eventual establishment of the Estado de las Autonomies.
But he left it to Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez Gonzales to manage the transition, particularly the crafting and passage of the new constitution, in the face of coup attempts from the Right and armed attacks by the separatist Left.
The success of Spain’s largely peaceful transition is attributed to the “convergence of all parties around the center of politics, as the Right abandoned authoritarianism and the Left ceased to endorse Marxism.”
The Philippines today is at another crossroads. Under the mercurial Duterte, there is now a convergence of major political forces from the Right, Left and the Bangsamoro.
It was the Spanish intervention with the arrival of Magellan’s flotilla which led to the centralization of power in ‘Imperial Manila.’ It is perhaps time to consider and learn from the recent experience of Spain in reversing what Empire had imposed in the country over 500 years ago.
Concluded tomorrow
