No to federalism

THE people couldn’t have made their voice clearer on the issue of federalism. Sixty-six percent of Filipinos reject the idea of a shift from the unitary to a federal form of government. Only twenty-seven percent are for it, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey.

In fact, they do not want the administration to even touch the constitution, according to the same survey. Sixty-four percent said they oppose amendment to the charter, a sharp 20-point rise from the 44 percent who expressed the same sentiment in a similar survey held middle of last year.

The survey was conducted nationwide so it is wrong to say that the results reflected the sentiment of Metro Manilas only. In fact, “Imperial Manila” which, if we believe the profederalism groups, stand to lose the most if the provinces are converted into independent states, only had 54 percent opposing federalism, the lowest among the regions that were surveyed.

In contrast, the regions that are claimed to benefit the most from the change of the form of government recorded the strongest opposition to a federal state: 75 percent in the rest of Luzon, 65 percent in Mindanao and 60 percent in the Visayas.

The rejection of federalism by the people is resounding, no amount of sugar-coating can change that. Of course, there will always be people who will try to downplay the results, dismissing the process as only a survey. But survey results have been fairly accurate, if they’re conducted by legitimate and credible firms like Pulse Asia and the Social Weather Station. In the last presidential elections, for example, both polling companies predicted an easy Rodrigo Duterte win for the presidency.