Wednesday, July 15, 2020

Empowering the regions, the way forward

Empowering the regions, the way forward

 

As far as anyone can remember, Metro Manila had always been far ahead compared to any other region in socio-economic development. To correct this imbalance, many have pursued the regional decentralization of government, based on the social theory of “subsidiarity,” saying that regional government systems are in the best position to handle regional affairs.[i]

 

As the late Dr. Gonzalo M. Jurado noted, regional government systems promote the dispersal of development by securing the benefits of “location” (or advantage of proximity to the regional center), by attracting the forces of “agglomeration” (or advantage of concentration in the regional center where there are already large concentrations of people and investments), and by facilitating “friendly competition” (or advantage of competition among regional centers to deliver the best services at the most reasonable prices).[ii] If I may add, they also institutionalize the systematic “integration” of the social and economic service functions of select government agencies, consolidating their operations, administration, control and supervision under a singular authority.[iii]

 

So how exactly should we pursue regional decentralization? Based on what we already know, there are at least three (3) ways to do this - by regional authority (RA), by autonomous region (AR), and by sub-state (SS). RA is like SBMA, but for a much bigger area like Central Luzon, and without the tax incentives usually granted in freeport and economic zones. AR is like the BARMM and its predecessor ARMM. SS is like the component state of Sabah, that by “accession” has joined the federal state of Malaysia.[iv]


Is there a national consensus on how to pursue regional decentralization? Based on my personal obversation, there is none. In  Luzon, the people and their leaders are apparently open to RA (as they already have the SBMA). However, they are indifferent if not opposed to either the AR or the SS. Note that even the Cordillera region did not create its own AR, even if so provided in the 1987 Constitution. In Mindanao on the other hand, I recall the words of our late mentor, Fr. Romeo “Archie” J. Intengan, S.J. He once told me that as far as the Muslim communities are concerned, anything less than “accession” to a federal state would not be acceptable. Knowing that Fr. Archie spent a good part of his life in the South during the martial law years, I take his subtle observations as words of wisdom. In Visayas, it seems their sentiment is closer to Mindanao.


So how do we move forward if there is no consensus? Well, the answer should be obvious. We should take the “bottom-up approach” and let the people of the regions decide for themselves, rather than take the “top-down approach” and impose on the regions uniform structures designed from the top. We need to consider that there are many factors that influence the success or failure of regional decentralization, including culture, demography, geography, natural resources, public funds and even insurgency.


While we have heard about the benefits of regional decentralization, people do ask – are there are pitfalls along the way? Yes, there are pitfalls ahead. Can we avoid them? Yes, of course, we can.

 

So what are these pitfalls? From my engagement with people's organizations and concerned citizens, the major concerns include the“Balkanization” of the nation (or the secession of sub-states from the federal state), the huge cost of funding multiple regional assemblies, double taxation that overburdens the taxpayers, and a complicated legal system (with divergent legal frameworks across the regions) that hamper doing business and job creation.


To prevent “Balkanization,” the federal constitution may categorically prohibit secession, and to this end, vest solely in the federal state the establishment of military (AFP) and police (PNP) forces. Borrowing from the laws establishing freeports and economic zones, the SS may have “internal security forces” which are actually government security guards with the limited task of protecting persons and properties.

 

To avoid the huge cost of funding multiple new regional assemblies, the present mayors and district congressmen may be designated as ex-officio members of these assemblies. Under the 1943 Constitution, local officials were made ex-officio members of the national assembly.

 

To avoid double taxation, we can temporarily retain the present public finance system where only the national government collects the major taxes (on income, value added and import duties), and thereafter allocate to the regions their fair and equitable share in the collections.

 

To avoid a complicated legal system, we can also temporarily prohibit the enactment by the SS of laws on banking, insurance, commerce (on goods and services), insolvency, intellectual property rights, professional practice, immigration, naturalization.

 

Looking at all these limitations on the SS, are we not rendering it inutile? No, we are not. They retain the government powers most important to them, i.e. the power to approve plans, programs and projects, and the power to allocate public funds.

 

So how do we move forward in empowering the regions? Check out the People's Draft (a crowd-sourced constitution), hashtag #PeoplesDraft. It is ready for discussion and deliberation on all points raised, and even more.

 

 

Demosthenes B. Donato

13 September 2019

Makati City, Philippines

 



[i] Principle of Subsidiarity – “theory in sociology, that functions which subordinate or local organizations perform effectively belong more properly to them than to a dominant central organization;” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, (c) 2002, page 2279.

[ii] Gonzalo M. Jurado, Notes on the Federal Structure for the Philippines, pages 2-4, 10 September 2012.

[iii] Demosthenes B. Donato, Advantages and Disadvantages of Regional Decentralization, 27 August 2016.

[iv] Principle of Accession – “the act of becoming joined (as in a confederacy or union);” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary Unabridged, (c) 2002, page 11.