Martin Luther King Jr.

once said that “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent
about things that matter.” In order for a country to grow it needs to have unity. When people
first heard of Federalism it might sound unfair due to the fact that this could not benefit everyone
on the nation. It might result for rich provinces to become richer and poor provinces to become
poorer and this could only happen if it is not properly implemented. And knowing the Philippines
we have a lot of laws in our constitution that is commendable but when implemented it is not
the same as what is expected. The big question for us Filipinos is that are we knowledgeable and
equipped enough for this government system that we can undergone a big change from what we
are used to?

Federalism simply means the divide of power of the government to two parties: national
and state or provincial. This government system has its pros and cons. Federalism’s advantages
to a country is efficiency of power, innovation of new laws and policies, and a more disposed
citizens. According to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia that the reason why
Philippines is not yet ready for this big government shift is that it is too risky for the economy and
it will be costing the country billions of peso. I do agree to his stand on why we are not yet ready
for Federalism however I am in favor that one day the Philippines will be ready on this matter. I
think that not only we are financially unequip but also the Filipino people are not passionate
enough on having care to the phenomena’s that our country faces.

In more simpler explanation is that Federalism is like a group task consisting of six
members. Each members has a significant role to the group. The task is grouping but the grading
is individual. That is like Federalism, the Philippines is like the whole group and the members are
the three main regions of the country: Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. This three regions has their
own government, each has the power to create rules that will make the region better or not but
no matter what the outcome is the world still recognizes it as a whole the “Philippines” but the
only ones will suffer is the region that the government is a failure. What I am saying is that when
each region is responsible enough to make substantial growth to the certain areas it covers the
result will be beneficial for the whole country but if there will be free loaders to the group where
in all the jurisdiction it creates fails the other regions will not be affected. That is how I understand
Federalism in my own context.

Though some people believe that Federalism is the start of inequality I do still believed
that when every region or provincial government was given a chance to stand on their own and
make their own decisions for their own betterment there will be a more likely growth in our
economy. The term “tamad” and “walang pake” is what the people in the country does and I
think the solution to this dilemma is federalism. It will wake the sleeping minds of Filipinos to
strive for the growth of their own region. Because we Filipinos can make everything possible and
I believe that we can transition to federalism if people remained their respect and honesty to
build our countries economy to its peak. In order to contradict the quote of Martin Luther King
Jr. I would like to reiterate that our lives begin the day we started to care about things that
matter.

Sources: https://www.rappler.com/business/207521-federalism-bad-for-economy-ernesto-pernia
https://bloomp.net/articles/benefits-of-federalism.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PJKe12mUvs