Social injustice to 'worsen' under federalism

MANILA. Christian Monsod, former Commission on Elections chairman and member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission. (SunStar Photo/Cherry Ann T. Lim)
MANILA. Christian Monsod, former Commission on Elections chairman and member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission. (SunStar Photo/Cherry Ann T. Lim)

MANILA -- The current setup where senators are chosen from all over the country is “unfair,” according to a former Senate President now looking to federalism to address this and other issues of social injustice in the country.

However, a former Commission on Elections chairman warned against an “overhaul” of the country’s current government setup through Charter change, saying it would only promote authoritarianism and further entrench political dynasties.

Speaking during the 23rd National Press Forum on Friday, July 5, 2019 in Hotel Jen in Manila, Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. said of the 24 senators today, only one represents the Visayas, Franklin Drilon of Iloilo City, while only three represent Mindanao -- Senators Juan Miguel Zubiri and Koko Pimentel of Northern Mindanao and Manny Pacquiao of Soccsksargen -- because it is candidates from Manila who are more often elected into office because of their national popularity.

While in theory, senators can determine the needs of Filipinos in other parts of the country, he said, it is the people who are from the specific areas of concern who would have a better grasp of what their priority projects should be.

This is why Pimentel proposed having two senators each elected by the specific federal states to be created under a federal form of government.

The consultative committee tasked by President Rodrigo Duterte to propose changes to the 1987 Constitution has proposed the creation of 18 federal states.

Pimentel, a member of the committee, also explained why the proposal included having the President and the Vice President elected together.

“Otherwise, the Vice President will always be going to Quiapo (Church), praying when will the President die, because they have differing views,” Pimentel quipped in a mix of English and Tagalog.

He said the educational requirement for elected officials was necessary because they might not be able to understand the official memos or other government documents.

On the judiciary side, he proposed that deadlines be given to the various courts to resolve cases so that there is speedy delivery of justice, as envisioned in the Constitution.

On the distribution of powers, he explained that education should remain a national power so that there is a standard curriculum nationwide, but federal states are not barred from adding to the curriculum any topics that might be suitable to the region.

He said there should also be only one armed forces throughout the country “so that if there are private armies, these can be disbanded by the one armed forces.”

Private armies cannot be allowed, he said, because “iyan ang simula ng pag-aapi ng mga tao (that is the start of the oppression of the people).”

Former Commission on Elections chairman and member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission Christian Monsod was not sold on federalism, however, saying its oft-repeated claim to addressing massive poverty was not supported by empirical evidence.

He said a study of 105 economies from 1987-2016 “does not support the notion that federalism is good for reducing poverty.”

Another study by Boston University, he said, showed that in 15 indicators, in most cases, unitary systems did better than federal systems.

Monsod said pro-federalism advocates often failed to indicate that “the Asian tigers are all unitary.”

He cited Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Indonesia.

He also mentioned Malaysia, “whose federal government has a more centralized government than ours.”

Monsod said having the President and Vice President elected in tandem could be addressed by a People’s Initiative and did not require a change in the 1987 Constitution.

As for the proposed education requirement for elected officials, he said, “Some of our worst Presidents went to schools of the highest learning, including Harvard.”

But what’s needed to make a good President is “character. And that’s not always learned in college.”

As for the failures of the partylist representation to really represent the marginalized sectors—he presented the peculiarity of “someone from Forbes Park representing security guards,” Monsod said this was an issue of jurisprudence and did not require Charter Change.

“The remedy is we go back to the Supreme Court,” he said.

“We’re fighting the sixth attempt to revise the Constitution, Monsod said, noting that his group had successfully fought off five other attempts by earlier Presidents because the public perceived them as a mere “smokescreen” for personal agendas.

“We’re already on a slippery slope to authoritarianism. And in Congress, we have a growing problem of political dynasties,” Monsod warned.

In the middle of last year, there were already proposals filed by Congress to give the President not only oversight powers over all branches of government, but also wide appointive powers without a clear check and balance mechanism.

Last October, the House committee version of constitutional amendments recommended for adoption by the plenary, also removed the political dynasty provision of the Constitution and term limits of elected public officials.

Monsod said federalism would only “further entrench the existing dominant groups in the regions.”

There are “200 dynastic clans in the country,” who would be fighting to wield power through the 18 proposed federated regions, he said.

Monsod said the 1987 Constitution was already enough to address the needs of Filipinos since it contains three central themes.

First, its heart is “social justice and human rights.”

Second, it says never again to authoritarianism.

“The economic disaster of 1983, from which we did not totally recover until 2002, was because total power” was wielded by one man, he said.

The dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown in the 1986 People Power Revolution.

Third, the Constitution says the economy should be placed in Filipino hands, Monsod said.

“We have failed to address poverty not because of the Constitution but because we have not fully implemented it,” he said. (SunStar Cebu)

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