FROM THE BARREL OF MY PEN/02/22/06
By Gonzalo “Jun” Policarpio


FEDERAL-PARLIAMENTARY FORM NOT RIGHT FOR FILIPINOS

A parliamentary form of government is not right for the Filipino people. Since the birth of the Filipino nation, the head of state has been elected by direct vote of the people. And they actually have no problem with that. The problem of possible cheating during elections is true everywhere in the democratic world. So parliamentary elections are not exempt from this constant. As long as candidates are human beings prone to lying, cheating, and stealing, there can never be a perfectly clean election.

By the same token, federalism is definitely not good for the Filipino people and for the Philippines as a country composed of more than 7,000 islands. A federal form of government is just right for the American people and the United States of America which is a compact state. Try to talk to most Americans and they will say that they are very proud to be called Americans. The American people after years of fighting the British colonizers and bitterly experiencing the bloody American civil war, have lived to be united in their love for independence and democracy. So that when the terrorists attacked New York City and destroyed the World Trade Center, thousands of American soldiers sacrificed their lives to decimate the terrorist-coddling Taliban government inAfghanistan and the evil regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

The Filipino people are not united. Every political observer, Filipino or non-Filipino, knows about this sad reality. I believe this problem is traceable to the Spanish colonizers’ policy of divide and conquer and its use of the sword and the cross as a means of mind control. Do you know who captured Aguinaldo and his men in Isabela and surrendered them to the American colonizers? The Filipino traitors were called Macabebe Scouts who were paid by the Americans. On the other hand , do you know who assassinated Andres Bonifacio and his brothers? They were Aguinaldo’s soldiers.

The point I’m driving at is the stupidity of thinking to impose a federal-parliamentary form of government in the Philippines. If such craziness succeeds, then a Filipino civil war may follow. However, a civil war may be a blessing in disguise as what happened in America that made every American feel strongly for the Union.


End