PEOPLE’S support of federalism should be contingent on its new charter having provisions that put us squarely on the road towards a truly and fully representative democracy. We have never been a democracy in its truest and fullest sense of rule by the majority and proportionate representation in government.
The French system best exemplifies rule of the majority where a candidate, to win an executive position (President, Governor, Mayor) must garner 50 percent plus one of all votes cast. If no candidate gets this absolute majority in the initial ballot, run-off elections are conducted until one wins by absolute majority.
In our system, one only needs to get the highest number of votes among all candidates to win. President Duterte, for instance, won with a record plurality of votes over his closest rival. Yet he did not win by absolute majority like many if not all his predecessors.
For legislative bodies, the majority rule and proportionate representation require a minimum number of votes for individuals or parties, as the case may be, to win a seat or seats in these bodies. But in our system, even if only a minority of voters go to the polls, the 12 highest getters of these minority votes will still win seats in the Senate. That is neither majority rule nor proportionate representation.
The last requires that all sectors of society are represented by parties that promote their social philosophy and corresponding socio-economic programs. The parties are public institutions funded by government. Hence, workers and farmers can form a party and get a chance to campaign for their candidates using government funds their party is entitled to. In this fair system government helps all sectors gain a voice in government.
We’ve never had this system. Our parties are not government-funded public institutions but private clubs only big capitalists and big landlords can organize to launch an election campaign for themselves or their proxies. As long as only their voice is heard in government the masses of ordinary workers and small farmers are likely to continue to settle for the crumbs that fall from the proverbial rich man’s table.
We’ve never had a true democracy to fear of losing. We’ve always had a lumbering oligarchy to dismantle when democracy is finally laid on the foundations of rule of the majority and proportionate representation.
Federalism could make this happen. That is why oligarchs, like our high-living but do-nothing senators, are fighting it tooth and nail. They profess to hate Martial Law yet rally behind a coup-plotter in a desperate move to get back to power and keep the country in the centuries-old normal rut of wealth for a minority and poverty for the majority.