Federalism will create further divisions and rivalries. Our country, Philippines, already have a brewing rivalry that concerns the Filipinos. Federalism will only add flame to the burning rivalries and will cause worse disunity among the Filipinos. According to retired Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Vicente Mendoza, a shift to a federal system will weaken our republic, fragment our nation and render at moot the many years we have spent to attain national unity. This country will be fragmented by such an attempt and there will be attempts at cessation. Shifting to a federal form of government would intensify regional differences and would encourage the rise of village tyrants and village dictators. The failure of federalism, which Mendoza referred to as an experiment, would be long-lasting. It will not just be like the impact of a Brexit where the sovereign states can return to their former status as independent states in the case of a component state trying to become a federal system. It will mean separation from the moorings, exposure and making yourself easy prey to the cupidity of other states. It is as dangerous as that, Mendoza said. In addition to that, what our country needs is a system of government that will unify our fragmented society. I believe that federalism will have the opposite effect because it will effectively break up our already divided country into virtually self-contained fiefdoms where powerful families can continue to hold sway. Such change strategy is fraught with unseen risks and is bound to flounder and eventually fail in the absence of well-developed social, political and economic institutions to facilitate a
smooth transition from one system to the other.
To add more flame to the burning issue, federalism can cause other states to lag behind. In the Philippines, there are some states that are not as ready to be autonomous compared to other states, which would create a lot of problems. A recent survey done by SWS and Pulse Asia, showed that only about 27% of Filipinos were aware of what federalism really means – this means roughly in 4 Filipinos. Our country is already divided by language, religion and economic inequality, and a federal system of government can be a recipe for disaster. Studies show that only a few regions are capable of raising enough taxes on their own. The vast majority of provinces, which will be submerged into new federal states, lack the basic administrative capacity for generating revenue. Under a federal system, the richer states of the north will have even more resources to enhance their competitiveness, thus deepening the developmental gap with other southern regions. Moreover, a federal system could further strengthen the power of political dynasties and warlords, which control the Philippines peripheries. According to academic studies, around 78 so called political dynasties – politicians related by kinship and blood – control 73 out of 8 provinces across the country. They also control up to 70% of the legislature, thus they seem likely to remove any proposed restrictions on the proliferation of political dynasties. Imagine weighing all of this in a balance scale, with political dynasty being dominant, the power will not be divided equally. One nation can have more, while the latter can only have few, or worse, none.