I am very happy with the advocacy of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte who is pressing for a shift from the existing highly centralized system of government to a federal one, which is long overdue. The federal system brings governance closer to the people. More political leaders are given the opportunity to innovate especially in addressing the concerns of a local government unit.
The current system, where the nation relies so much on one person and one national government to address many different concerns of all the local units, no longer works. The president could not be expected to effectively attend to all at one time.
The national government has been resisting change. I understand its position. Shifting to a federal system would mean giving away many of the powers the national government has enjoyed for years. But how can the national government take care of those in the far-flung areas of Mindanao and the Visayas? Some national leaders can’t even correctly pronounce the names of these places or know their exact location.
The country’s population is now more than 100 million people. In the Spanish period, a highly centralized system was adequate because there were very few people then. But today, with multi-faceted problems and many places with their own peculiarities, the need to shift to federalism is reinforced.
Regardless of the propaganda of the national government, it is very timely to change the system. This would allow localities to grow not by the dictates of national leaders, but by the decision of those in their localities who know better the problems in their own setting.
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In last Sunday’s column I discussed options to solve flooding in Metro Cebu and practically forgot the role of citizens. The words of the late US president John F. Kennedy are so apt today: “Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country.” Our community should start internalizing this.
Residents and commercial establishments should properly dispose of their garbage so as not to clog the drainage systems. It really makes me mad when people riding private or public vehicles toss garbage out the windows. Our rivers are filled with floating trash thrown by people living nearby.
I hope that government leaders will exercise political will and not play politics so that waterways will be cleared of obstructions such as houses, footbridges and commercial buildings.