FEDERALISM, CHA-CHA, AND MORE GOVERNMENT

“The aim, therefore, of patriots was to set limits to the power which the ruler should be suffered to exercise over the community; and this limitation was what they meant by liberty.” — John Stuart Mill, “On Liberty” (1859)

The Duterte administration’s federalism push mainly plans to expand government from two to three layers with three sets of elected officials: (a) big national government with three branches (executive, legislative, judiciary) plus Constitutional bodies, ( b) expanded municipal/city and provincial governments with their own executive and legislative branches, and the new (c) 18 state governments with their own three branches.

So while the 80+ provincial governors, vice- governors will be retained, there will be new 18 state governor and vice-governor positions that will be created. The number of business permits and taxes will expand while the number of national taxes have already expanded as shown by TRAIN 1 law.

Here is the distribution of powers between the national/federal and regional/state governments under Article XII of ConCom’s draft constitution. The agencies in parenthesis are my insertion to show where existing agencies fit in and the “S” refers to state-level agency.

A. EXCLUSIVE POWERS

Article XII, Section 1. Federal Government exclusive power over:

Section 2. Within their territory, states’ exclusive power over:

(a) Defense, security of land, sea, and air territory (DND) ( b) Foreign affairs (DFA) (c) International trade (DTI) (d) Customs and tariffs (DoF, BoC)

( e) Citizenship, immigration and naturalization (DoJ, BI)

( f ) National socioeconomic planning (NEDA)

( g) Monetary policy and federal fiscal policy, banking, currency (BSP)

( h) Competition and competition regulation bodies (PCC)

( i) Inter- regional infrastructure and public utilities including telecommunications and broadband networks ( DPWH, DICT) ( j) Postal service (PHLPost) ( k) Time regulation, standards of weights and measures (DTI)

( l) Promotion and protection of human rights (CHR) (m) Basic education (DepEd) ( n) Science and technology (DoST)

(o) Regulation and licensing of professions (PRC)

( p) Social security benefits (SSS, GSIS)

(q) Federal crimes and justice system (DoJ, NBI) (r) Law and order (DILG, PNP) (s) Civil, family, property, and commercial laws, except as may be otherwise provided for in the Constitution (Judiciary)

( t) Prosecution of graft and corruption cases (Ombudsman, Judiciary)

(u) Intellectual property (IPOPHIL) (v) Elections (Comelec) ( a) Socioeconomic development planning (NEDA- S)

( b) Creation of sources of revenue (DoF- S)

( c) Financial administration and management (DBM- S)

(d) Tourism, investment, and trade development (DoT- S, DTI- S)

(e) Infrastructure, public utilities and public works (DPWH- S, ERC- S, MWSS- S,…) (f ) Economic zones (PEZA) ( g) Land use and housing (HUDCC)

( h) Justice system ( DoJ- S, State Judiciary)

( i) Local government units (DILG- S)

( j) Business permits and licenses (LGUs)

( k) Municipal waters (DA- S, BFAR)