What Is Federalism, and Would It Help the Philippines?

The word "Federalism" has been a trending one all over the mainstream, and social, media. People both online and offline are debating about whether federalism is something that the Philippines needs. In a country composed of more than 7,000 islands that is a home to about 187 languages, and hundreds of ethnic groups, as well as the perceived failure of the current unitary system has made the topic more relevant than ever. But what is federalism? And would it help the Philippines develop and prosper?

Defining Federalism

How federalism is defined depends on the source consulted. But according to the Legal Information Institute of the Cornell Law School, federalism is "a system of government in which the same territory is controlled by two levels of government." This means that authority in a state is divided in two levels: the federal government, and the state government.

The division of powers between the federal government, and the state government may vary from country to country. But in general, most federal governments are in charge of affairs that affect the whole country, such as foreign affairs, defense, and monetary issues, and authority, which refers to the control of the value of a currency, as well as the supply and demand of a currency. On the other hand, the state governments are often in charge of issues in their own state. Both the federal government, and the state government could pass and enact laws, and have some degree of autonomy from each other as stated by their constitutions.

Types of Federalism

There are numerous classifications for federalism, but the most common is based on the degree of power state governments have from each other, as well as from the federal government. Using this classification, there are generally two types of federalism: asymmetric federalism and symmetric federalism.

Asymmetric federalism, according to US Legal, refers to the form of federalism where distribution of power among the states is unequal. This means that states could have greater or lesser autonomy than each other, and they could have more or less responsibility than each other as well. This form of federalism is often adopted to meet the needs of states that are culturally, ethnically, or linguistically distinct from each other. Examples of countries that use asymmetric federalism include Canada, which grants more autonomy to the French-speaking Quebec province, and it is also used even by de jure unitary states like the United Kingdom, which gives greater autonomy to Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland by allowing them to have their own parliament that would discuss affairs relevant to their constituent countries (and England is under the jurisdiction of the British Parliament, and is the main subject of the West Lothian Question), and Spain, which is often considered a "federalist country in all but name," and grants greater autonomy to some of its nationalities like Catalonia, the Basque country, and Galicia.

Symmetric federalism, on the other hand, refers to the form of federalism that gives equal powers to each of the states in a certain country. This means that each state have equal autonomy with each other, and not one state is distinct from the other in terms of responsibility. The United States is a prime example of a country that uses this form of federalism, with each state having an equal degree of power and autonomy.

While these two are distinct in terms of how much power and autonomy each state has, the two are similar in a way that states in both asymmetric and symmetric federalism they have the same formal status as states, and difference is only made in terms of responsibility and autonomy. Furthermore, both forms require a federal constitution, where powers and autonomy of states are outlined, to fully function.

Would Federalism Help The Country?

The Philippines is currently a unitary presidential republic. This means that most of the power lies in the central government, which is supreme, and above the country's administrative divisions, and all political subdivisions act only based on the powers delegated by the central government. The Philippines is a home to hundreds of ethnic groups, each with their own culture, language, and history. Currently, Metro Manila, the Capital Region of the Philippines, is situated in Luzon, and near the Tagalog-speaking areas of the island. This form of concentrated power created some resentment among other Filipinos outside of Metro Manila, especially those in Visayas and Mindanao, and the term "Imperial Manila" was invented to refer to the massive power the National Capital Region has compared to other regions. While the Philippines functions as a de jure unitary state, the country uses some form of devolution, giving some autonomy to the provinces, and two autonomous regions were created: The Cordillera Region and the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, which would be, in turn, replaced with the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.

The creation of the Bangsamoro bolstered the support of federalism across the country, hoping that decentralisation would finally bring about, not just peace, but also prosperity across all parts of the Philippines, and not just in Metro Manila.

The unitary form of government could have also had an impact on Metro Manila itself. Traffic, and a huge population density of about 39,000 per square kilometres, had brought about huge problems in the metropolis, which causes it to be much more cramped and less spacious. Mass internal migration does not, for the most part, affect only places that receive these huge number of internal migrants, but it also has an effect on the provinces, and even small cities where these internal migrants come from. Since most of the resources, and even investment is centred in Metro Manila, those from the rural areas were forced to leave their provinces behind, and migrate to Metro Manila in search for better opportunities and a better life.

The case against the unitary form of government is not only economic or political. Disaster response and management is crucial to the Philippines as a whole, due to the fact that natural disasters, such as typhoons and earthquakes, occur often in almost every part of the country. Under the unitary form of government, all the resources and funds are mostly in the capital, which makes response to disasters and mitigation to its effects difficult, especially if such disasters strike a certain province or region. Should federalism had been adopted from the beginning, disaster response and mitigation would be easily managed and done, since the state governments would have the necessary resources to better respond to these disasters should they occur in these states.

The calls for federalism has not been a recent phenomenon. In fact, according to an article "Rizal the Federalist, Bonifacio the Unitarian," published on the website of CoRRECT, an advocacy group that fights for federalism, economic liberalisation, and an adoption of parliamentary system, Dr. Jose Rizal had predicted that the Philippines would be a federal republic through his article "Filipinas dentro de cien años" published in La Solidaridad whilst Andres Bonifacio envisioned a unitary republic through his concept of Haring Bayang Katagalugan. Emilio Aguinaldo and Apolinario Mabini also proposed during the times of the Philippine Revolution to divided the Philippines into three separate states.

However, such calls arose again when now President Rodrigo Duterte became immensely popular in the country, and it was one of his main campaign promises to shift from the unitary to the federal form of government. Duterte's party, PDP-Laban, includes the shift to federalism as one of its main platforms.

While whether adopting federalism or retaining the unitary form of government is still being debated, with the passage of the Federal Draft proposed by the Consultative Committee, it is important to take note that federalism is a fit for the country considering the geographic and demographic features of the Philippines, and while it might not be a perfect system, or it might not be necessarily able to solve all the problems the country has, federalism could help make regions more economically, and even politically competitive, which in turn would deliver prosperity in the entire country, not just in Metro Manila.