Federalism or unitary form of government

AS our country moves on, to debate a proposed federal form of government which the current administration advocates, let those who are eager to change our present unitary government publicly tell us what shape or form of federalism are they talking about. Many of those politicians that are pushing for federalism want the United States of America-type of government. As already explained by them, there will be state governors and other state officials like city and municipal mayors, state legislators and state courts, and Supreme Court? What I have not heard so far is whether there will be a state House of Representatives and State Senate – in short a State Congress.

I take up the subject of federal government for our country, because as far as I have read and seen, some of the proposals of this federal form of government will, to my mind, make it a very expensive type of government – because of the number of state officials as well as federal officials – like the Executive Department headed by the president with his vice president, cabinet members; the Federal Legislature with its Senate and House of Representatives, and of course the Supreme Court and its justices.

There are Constitutional Law questions that need to be asked:

How will the powers of the government be divided between the federal government and the state? How about the police forces, will it be a National Federal Police controlled by the Executive Department or will it be like the United States where the police is controlled by the local state officials like the town and city mayors? How about the state governors, will they be having National Guards which are controlled by the state governors? I expect that in the proposed changes in our Constitution, the Federal President will be the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

In the distribution of powers, which official will be entrusted to declare martial law? The president or the state governors or both? More importantly, will the federal government retain all powers of government except those that are delegated to the states? In the US of A, all original powers belong to the states, except those that were delegated to the federal government.

Imagine if we were a federal US type of government – who will take charge of the rebellion in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur? The state governor or the federal president? If a state or states want to secede from the federal union because of policy differences with the federal government, can it do so? The reason being that they will only be exercising anyway their right of self-determination which is recognized in our present Constitution.

What happened to the US centuries ago was the American Civil War when the Southern States formed their own Confederate Union in order to secede from the US of A. Fortunately for the Americans, there was an Abraham Lincoln who refused to yield to the idea of secession by breaking out of the Union. Thus, the American Civil War erupted, a war which even in present times was the most destructive. It resulted in tens of thousands of dead and wounded Americans and the devastation of the countryside of the defeated states.

Even today that Civil War brings very strong reactions to many American citizens, who by the way want to remove the statues of the Confederate generals. At least in one city, the mob pulled down the statue of a Confederate general. In the USA, some governors and city mayors defy the orders of the US federal president especially with regards to immigration issues by declaring themselves to be “Sanctuary Cities and States.” Will such a situation be welcome in the Philippines?