MANILA — Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Chairman Prospero “Popoy” de Vera III believes that Filipinos are not against federalism, but only lack available information for them to fully understand the government system.
“It is speculative to say that there are people resisting. I don’t give a lot of credit to Social Weather Stations and Pulse surveys because many Filipinos and other nationalities don’t really understand their constitution,” de Vera said Friday in a press conference in Batangas City.
De Vera added he could only say there is resistance if some people still dislike the principle of federalism once the proponents of the system are done with their information dissemination campaign.
“Now that there is information available, let us see what the people will say. My experience is, every time there are discussions about it in the different parts of the country, people feel good about it,” he said.
De Vera explained that federalism is simply a means to “democratize the governance in the country, which has always been focused on imperial Manila.”
He added it also seeks to provide localities the power to think for themselves and decide what to do with their future.
“We have been unitary since Spanish period. We were essentially federal before the Spanish period. Such governance for the past three or four centuries has been creating problems in the country,” he said.
Since there are various types of federal government, de Vera stressed there is no specific model from which the country must copy or replicate, since the Philippines’ historical background and experiences are unique, compared with other countries.
“The federal government models depend on the countries’ varying needs, depending on their sizes and capabilities. We should develop our own model and not copy from other countries, and US federalism, which is the most famous federalism model, is the worst model. That is not from me. Those are from US political scientists,” he said.
As far as higher education is concerned, de Vera said he is proposing a mixed type of federalism, where the federal government and the state or local governments both have a say on the education and implementation of policies related to it.
“US and Canada, they decide to place the power on education on state and local governments, and the federal government has no role in education. It has its good side and bad side. In Malaysia, the federal government has a power on education and leaves the implementation with the state and local governments. Again, it has a good and bad side,” he cited.
De Vera said it is important for the government to study the good models of federalism worldwide and try to put their principles together, so it can create the federal system that fits the country’s needs and historical experience. (Ma. Teresa Montemayor/PNA)
