See - Federalism will not solve corruption
"x x x.
Federalism will not solve corruption
By: Joel Ruiz Butuyan- @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 12:13 AM June 06, 2016
x x x.
It must be pointed out that it is not the nature of a system of government that causes it to fail. It is the people who operate the system of government that will make it fail, or succeed. By merely changing the system of government—without changing the culture of the people who run the government—the same people who cause the failure of the unitary system will make the new federal system fail as well.
As many as 70 percent of Filipino politicians are connected to dynasties who have ruled the towns and provinces for generations. With the powers that these dynasties hold under the present unitary form of government, they have been able to perpetuate themselves in power and amass vast wealth through corruption. How much more influence and wealth will these dynasties monopolize if more powers from the national government are devolved and handed over to their control?
Let us grant for the sake of argument that federalism will work for a Davao City ruled by a Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. But what guarantee do we have when it comes to the politicians who treat the rest of our 145 cities, 1,489 towns, and 81 provinces as though these were their fiefdoms?
A shift to federalism as a formula to address the problem of poverty is a remedy that calls for the reallocation of powers among politicians. Given the prevailing culture of corruption among these politicians, however, federalism will not yield positive results for the country at this time.
What we need at this time is to reallocate more powers to the people, for them to fight the abuse of power of the politicians. We need to arm citizens with a freedom of information law to enable them to easily expose corruption, which is the bigger cause of poverty compared to the perceived dysfunctional nature of the unitary form of government. We need an antidynasty law under which a stint in public office is a public service and not a family business, as many political dynasties have made it. We need an antidynasty law to level the playing field and give well-meaning citizens a chance at public service, instead of allowing government positions to be the birthright of de facto royal dynasties.
Under ideal political conditions, a federal system of government may be better than a unitary form of government. But we are not under ideal political conditions.
In the list of what can make our country better at this time, given the prevailing political culture, our need for laws to fight corruption ranks much higher in importance and urgency than the need to shift to a federal system of government.
At the very least, strengthened anticorruption instruments—foremost among which are freedom of information and antidynasty laws—must first be in place before any shift to a federal system of government is undertaken. These laws are indispensable preconditions for a federal system of government to function for the people’s welfare.
If Duterte forces a shift to federalism without first arming the people with all the means to fight corruption, he will leave a legacy of having strengthened provincial warlords with expanded powers to perpetuate their vassal kingdoms all over the country.
The incoming President apparently thinks that the single incantation of “federalism” is enough. It will take more than one incantation. He will need to make the three-in-one chant of “freedom of information, antidynasty and federalism” to break the twin scourges of corruption and poverty.
x x x."
By: Joel Ruiz Butuyan- @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 12:13 AM June 06, 2016
x x x.
It must be pointed out that it is not the nature of a system of government that causes it to fail. It is the people who operate the system of government that will make it fail, or succeed. By merely changing the system of government—without changing the culture of the people who run the government—the same people who cause the failure of the unitary system will make the new federal system fail as well.
As many as 70 percent of Filipino politicians are connected to dynasties who have ruled the towns and provinces for generations. With the powers that these dynasties hold under the present unitary form of government, they have been able to perpetuate themselves in power and amass vast wealth through corruption. How much more influence and wealth will these dynasties monopolize if more powers from the national government are devolved and handed over to their control?
Let us grant for the sake of argument that federalism will work for a Davao City ruled by a Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. But what guarantee do we have when it comes to the politicians who treat the rest of our 145 cities, 1,489 towns, and 81 provinces as though these were their fiefdoms?
A shift to federalism as a formula to address the problem of poverty is a remedy that calls for the reallocation of powers among politicians. Given the prevailing culture of corruption among these politicians, however, federalism will not yield positive results for the country at this time.
What we need at this time is to reallocate more powers to the people, for them to fight the abuse of power of the politicians. We need to arm citizens with a freedom of information law to enable them to easily expose corruption, which is the bigger cause of poverty compared to the perceived dysfunctional nature of the unitary form of government. We need an antidynasty law under which a stint in public office is a public service and not a family business, as many political dynasties have made it. We need an antidynasty law to level the playing field and give well-meaning citizens a chance at public service, instead of allowing government positions to be the birthright of de facto royal dynasties.
Under ideal political conditions, a federal system of government may be better than a unitary form of government. But we are not under ideal political conditions.
In the list of what can make our country better at this time, given the prevailing political culture, our need for laws to fight corruption ranks much higher in importance and urgency than the need to shift to a federal system of government.
At the very least, strengthened anticorruption instruments—foremost among which are freedom of information and antidynasty laws—must first be in place before any shift to a federal system of government is undertaken. These laws are indispensable preconditions for a federal system of government to function for the people’s welfare.
If Duterte forces a shift to federalism without first arming the people with all the means to fight corruption, he will leave a legacy of having strengthened provincial warlords with expanded powers to perpetuate their vassal kingdoms all over the country.
The incoming President apparently thinks that the single incantation of “federalism” is enough. It will take more than one incantation. He will need to make the three-in-one chant of “freedom of information, antidynasty and federalism” to break the twin scourges of corruption and poverty.
x x x."
