First of three parts
BEDIMPLED and charming at 57, Davao City-based businesswoman Belle Vilela-Chua breaks into a grateful smile when talk drifts to President-elect Rodrigo R. Duterte and his pitch for a Federal Philippines.
“Magaan mag-negosyo dito. Ang business permit ko, ako lang nag-aasikaso, walang iba, normally on the first or second working day of the year,” Vilela-Chua said. “’Di pa nakaka-alas-kwatro ng hapon, tapos na permit ko. Walang red tape [Business is good here (Davao City). I don’t need anyone to get our business permit. I attend to it myself on the first or second working day of the year. I get the permit before 4 in the afternoon. There is no red tape].”
She and her husband Nonoy used to be based in Cotabato City and were engaged in handicraft export. But they soon shifted to the more lucrative handicraft retail and, in 2005, moved to Davao City and opened Iconarts, a specialty store.
Vilela-Chua said in Davao City they were able to build a house within two years after they started Iconarts. In the last 10 years they have been able to stabilize their business and save enough for a few holiday trips abroad.
That they supported Duterte during his bid for the presidency, there is no doubt, as evidenced by a poster of the couple on Facebook with the message: “We are Filipinos and our President is Duterte—Nonoy and Belle Chua, entrepreneurs.” A stylized Duterte “change is coming” emblem with the iconic wings of an eagle shadow in the upper right hand of the Facebook poster.
Facebook, Youtube
Vilela-Chua said she first learned about federalism early last year, “when news about Duterte going around the country talking about it [federalism] came up.”
She said the big media outlets weren’t giving Duterte that much attention that time. Vilela-Chua added that she was unfamiliar with federalism. “It wasn’t until former North Cotabato Gov. [now incoming Agriculture Secretary] Emmanuel F. Piñol kept posting about the topic in his Facebook page that I came to fully understand the concept of federalism,” she said. “Eventually, more and more posts and videos about federalism came out in Facebook.”
She added that one of the posts of Piñol included a video on “Ano ba ang Federalismo [What is federalism]?” The video, uploaded in
YouTube on April 7—almost a month before the May 9 elections—ran for four minutes and 11 seconds. As of June 5, the video has elicited 63,209 views.
Piñol’s video is essentially a primer on federalism as espoused by then presidential candidate Duterte. It basically compares the present presidential (unitary) form of government with a federal form of government.
Presidential vs federal
THE presidential form of government emphasizes that “power and authority is mostly vested in one centralized government.”
“One aspect for this is that income and funds made by each region would all go to the centralized government and, from there, budget is distributed back to each region, basing on the amount the government has set.”
Piñol’s video, titled “Ano ba ang Federalismo,”explains that “in federalism, power will be divided between the national federal government and the local state government.”
“The Philippines shall be divided into different states,” the video explains. It cites as an example the proposed Federal Structure by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, wherein Northern Luzon will be one state and Central Luzon would be another state and so on and so forth.
According to the video, each state would retain 80 percent of their income and funds and only 20 percent of that would go to the federal national government. The video added that 30 percent of the 80-percent income of each state would go to the [local state government and 70 percent would go to the provinces, cities, municipalities and barangays.
Each state would also have their own set of senators and representatives. Legislative powers are also shared between the national federal government and the local state government. So in basic terms, the federal government is responsible for the military and protection of the nation, and the local state government would be responsible for their respective states, where each local government has more control over the projects, budgets and laws.
The Philippines has 7,107 islands, each with diverse tribes and cultures and, obviously, each region has their own specific needs. In cases of emergency, we have repeatedly failed to respond quickly since the facilities, technology and funding is mainly focused on where the centralized government is located. The unitary form of government has failed us again and again. By shifting from a unitary form of government to a federal type of government, Duterte believes we can achieve economic reforms, equal justice, progress to each state and decongest Metro Manila as some would have put it.
Executed in clever graphics and attractive colored animation, the video is representative of about 10 other educational videos on federalism now lined-up in YouTube and were uploaded a month or two before the May 9 elections.
The graphics are so attractive, there are even comments about them: “Ano gamit n’yong editing software [What editing software did you use]?” or “Anong software ginamit para sa animation [What software did you use for the animation]?” The response was, “+JP tribalscene Adobe After Effects.”
As of June 5, these videos have registered some 9,377 views to a high of 63,187 views. These do not include the videos of news reports on Duterte espousing federalism, which run up to 74,000 views and counting.
It is not the first time that a president pushed for Charter change (Cha-cha) during his or her administration. Shifting to a parliamentary form of government was attempted by Presidents Fidel V. Ramos, Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who, like Duterte, also espoused federalism.
And, while President Aquino did not espouse Cha-cha, House Speaker Feliciano R. Belmonte Jr. had sought amendments in the economic provisions of the Constitution.
None of these efforts proved successful. Would Duterte be the exception? To be continued
5 comments
The ARRM is a theocratic state within Philippine borders.
Unitary VS Federal NOT Presidential VS Federal
The article’s main campaign is against the “CENTRALIZED” form of government. Kept pointing at its weaknesses and on the strengths of the decentralized form of government, Federalism. Not one time did it mention BBL or Bangsamoro. Heck, the only reason why they are pushing this form of Federalism is because they want to give the Bangsamoro a state within the federal form of government.
Unitary or Federal form of governments works great depending on who runs it. There is one contention that must be addressed and that is the Separation of Religion and State. Go back into your history books and you will see that the Union of Religion and Government is a RECIPE for disaster for the citizens.
This union would be a dream come TRUE for any religion. The Christian church enjoyed this for the longest time, then the citizens rebelled and said no more. But then there is stil one Religion (Islam) that continues to promote Relgion/Government as one. Most are now called Islamic Countries and others like Malaysia are not totally Islamic but their laws all hinge on Sharia.
Back to this Fedealism for the Philippines as pushed by Digong and his proponents: This form of federalsim has the Bangsamoro Muslim State built in. A state that embraces Islam as its official religion and Sharia as its supreme law.
I am not against Federalism. Federalism is a good form of government. But this federalism that you folks want for the Philippines with the Built in Bangsamoro Muslim State that embraces Islam as its official religion and Sharia as its supreme law will spell disaster for the Philippines.
Better federalism than lone “BBL” exclusive for Bangsamoro? It will create more chaos if such autonomous state only be given to bangsamoro, CAR has been proposing for that so long but was never been granted… I think you have lack of information about the issue, have you heard of “Sharia Law Exam conducted by SC lately? of course, sharia law is for muslim state but was built with basic law hammered in the congress, it was meant to respect the “historical rights and religion in the region” which kept them fighting for so long, through Federalism, they have all to exercise their politics, economy in a state muslim majority. Again, every state under federalism was built with basic law.
Maybe you are not aware that we are a country that upholds the “separation of church and state”. Upholding sharia law violates the constitution. Presidential decree 1083 violates the constitution. It was passed only because money was involved. The NCMF violates the constitution. The ARMM violates the constitution. The legislature has been paid off.
Now to circumvent all of this they want Federalism and to give the bangsamoro an Islamic state of their own. Money talks again.
The Bangsamoro is based on the biggest and fattest lie in the Philippines. The Bangsamoro claim to be the original inhabitants of Mindanao, Sulu, and Palawan. This claim is the basis of the existence of the Bangsamoro. Lies lies lies. The moros(muslims) showed up in the archipelago only in the 14th century. The indigenous people were the original inhabitants not the moros.