(Last of two parts)
Seeing how a unitary structure, a presidential system with a multiplicity of parties, has created not only a confused but even a dysfunctional political system, we submit that the next President after June 30, 2016, initiate, and Congress call for a Constitutional Convention with elected delegates right after they are sworn into office.
We subscribe to a federal system, this writer having embraced the idea since it was championed through Unlad Bayan, an organization founded by the late industrialist Enrique Zobel and then Vice President Doy Laurel in 1988, of which I was named secretary-general. The number and composition of the federal states should be debated upon by the elected delegates. At present, we have 15 administrative regions, namely: Regions 1, 2, CAR, 3, NCR, 4 (divided into the mainland Calabarzon and the Mimaropa island provinces), Bicol, Region 6, 7 and 8 in the Visayas (although a recent executive order has taken Occidental away from Panay, and Oriental away from Central Visayas), and the Mindanao regions 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and ARMM. That’s a total of 16 administrative regions.
Assuming the same administrative regions are converted into federal states comprising the Federal Republic of the Philippines (the Convention may also opt to rename the country in order to do away with colonial vestiges, although personally this may not sit well with many who have known themselves as Filipinos through centuries), we propose:
That we adopt a presidential system where the President and his vice president are elected at large by the populace. They shall hold office for a term of six (6) years, with one re-election.
We should have a two-party system similar to the United States, and our own before the imposition of martial rule.
We should adopt a unicameral federal Congress, called the National Assembly, to serve as the nation’s legislature, with each of the states electing at-large five (5) assemblymen nominated by their respective political parties prior to the election. Thus, we will have a unicameral National Assembly composed of 80 members, more if we should have say, 17 or 18 states. For instance, if we create two separate political entities for our Muslim brothers, one for the mainland (Bangsa Moro) and another for the western islands (Bangsa Tausug), then there will be 17 states. And 18 if we shall create a separate state for Mimaropa (presently 4-B). There should be no term limits for assemblymen.
The nationally elected vice president shall automatically be the Speaker or presiding officer of the National Assembly. Bloc voting must be the norm for President and vice president, state governor and vice governor (who shall be the Speaker of the state assembly), provincial governor and his vice governor, city and municipal mayors and their vice mayors.
This will do away with a Senate where 24 senators are elected nationwide, making electoral choice a function of money and celebrity status, most often regardless of ability or experience in legislation. Elected by their states, they obviously must come from that ethno-linguistic area or are familiar to the area because of long residence.
Elections for the National Assembly, with candidates chosen by party convention, should winnow the fit from the misfit. And campaigns will be less expensive. Every state, rich or poor, regardless of population size or revenue, will have equal representation. Metro Manila centricity will in time be a thing of the past. (In the US of A, there are 50 states, with populous California and New York having 2 senators each, and less populous Connecticut and Alaska having the same number.)
Each federal component state shall be led by a governor voted by the entire state. His vice governor will automatically preside over the state legislature, where every province of the state will be represented by legislative district, the definition of which the Convention should update according to current and future demographics.
The component province of each state shall be led by an elected governor, and his party-mate vice governor shall be the presiding officer of a provincial board composed of the mayors of the different component cities and municipalities of said province. If it is a big province like Pangasinan with more than 40 component cities and municipalities, the Constitutional Convention may choose to have the elected mayors taking turns at serving three years each in the provincial board. This will do away with the present provincial boards elected separately from the mayors. Run the province like a board of directors in a corporate set-up, with each mayor having a say in policies and programs.
The same will be done with respect to cities and municipalities, abolishing the city or municipal council and making local policy and budgets the responsibility of the elected barangay leaders, where small towns (on the average with 14 component barangays) will take the place of the town or city council. In the case of large cities or towns, taking turns of three years each, even two years each, within a full term of six years, may be legislated upon by the National Assembly after the new Constitution is ratified.
There will be a need to reconfigure the number of barangays, which in some cases, were configured with no standard of measure. For instance, the City of Manila, with a roughly 800,000 voting population, has 897 barangays, while Cebu City, with some 600,000 voters, has only 80 barangays. To further illustrate the need for barangay rationalization: The barangay where I am a registered voter, Libertad in Butuan City, has 16,000 voters. The barangay where my Manila residence is located has only 200 voters.
The proposal stems from the political reality that the barangay, being the smallest unit of government, is also the unit closest to and most responsive to the community. The number just needs to be rationalized, so that a barangay in Manila, or Cebu, or Davao, or Zamboanga, would be serving similar populations and comparative land areas. Again, the elected vice mayor shall be the presiding officer of the city or municipal council composed of the barangay captains.
Since the proposed term of each elected official is six years, we can de-synchronize our elections, thus: Elect the President and vice president as a team, together with the five national assemblymen in the first year of the term. So, even with manual voting, we write only six names for the President (automatic vote for his team-mate VP) and five legislators.
Three years after, we elect the state governor and his vice (1), the state assembly representative of our district (1), the provincial governor and his vice (1), the city or town mayor and his vice (1) and the barangay captain (1). A total of 5 names. If the Convention decides to have a barangay council, then add 5 or six barangay kagawad each. The voter writes only five to 11 names in his ballot.
I know this proposal, which is entirely personal, will not be met positively by the present wielders of political power, especially those in the business of legislation. But I submit that it is time we think out of the box. Run cities and municipalities like a corporate board of directors, where each “stockholder” unit is both a CEO of his barangay and a member of the policy council of the town.
The form of government is still presidential, with every voter having a choice of who he wants to lead him, but with a two-party system. The convention can choose to retain a party-list system, as part of the state assembly, but not the national assembly where every member should be elected at-large by the component state’s voters.
Or, we may opt to have a system similar to the French model, where the nationally elected President is in charge of foreign affairs, defense, currency and other departments imbued with national security, with the power to nominate a Prime Minister in charge of the economy and day-to-day operations of line agencies, who shall be subject to the vote of the National Assembly. But for dictatorial powers, it is similar to the time when Marcos was President and the highly respected Cesar Virata was our prime minister.
Less elected government officials, longer terms of office (six years instead of three), simplified method of choosing, a strong two-party system in a federal system of government, while retaining a presidential form. We submit.