According to the latest Pulse Asia survey (March 23-28), almost 7 out of 10 Filipinos oppose a shift to a federal government. Clearly, there is no public clamor for it, only widespread and profound public confusion as well as skepticism.
Second, I’m astonished at how a good number of pro-federalism proponents carelessly indulge what scientists call “selection bias.” They enthusiastically cite flattering examples of federalism, such as contemporary Germany or Switzerland, which happen to have circumstances entirely different from those in the Philippines.
Few mention the brutal mid-19th century civil war in federal America, which claimed the lives of close to a million individuals, or the breakdown of federal Yugoslavia into a genocidal anarchy not long ago. Not many talk about the actual experience of federalism in fellow developing countries such as Nigeria, India, Brazil, and Iraq, which have been wracked by deep inequality, persistent ethnic-communal tensions, and uneven development throughout much of their recent history.
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