No clear advantages between federal, unitary govt forms – expert

Literature on institutional design has yet to provide a consensus on the superiority of a federal to a unitary system of government, or vice versa, a political scientist said on Friday.

As part of his research project entitled "A Critical Review of the Federalism Project of the Duterte Administration", University of the Philippines Professor Gene L. Pilapil delivered a lecture on his critique using institutional design literature in political science.

As to whether the country was prepared for the shift to federalism through constitutional amendments - a top priority for lawmakers - Pilapil said, “Before I answer that, are federalist proponents ready for federalism? Kasi hanggang ngayon, hinahanap nila kung anong model nila. Pero let us not blame our country for not being prepared for federalism. We ask first, are they prepared?"

“If it is true that there is no superiority in federal than unitary, for you to say that we should shift to federal, you really should have a model,” he added.

Given the uncertainty, Pilapil explained that prominent scholars in the political science discipline had worked on institutional issues similar to what Filipinos now faced.

Among the models he discussed was the “hyper-rationality” concept by German experts Wolfgang Merkel and Aurel Croissant, which was characterized by an "exaggerated belief in institutional design."

Pilapil said this was the model that the government was attempting to apply in the Philippines.

“They believe that the problems of our country can be solved by shifting to another form of  government… Just because you can change the constitution, you can change the country,” he explained.

“That’s hyper-rationality. That’s hyper-institutionalism. That’s overkill. It‘s like me saying that dahil bibigyan ko ng additional ten points ‘yung mga studyante, lahat ‘yan mag-aaral. Hindi… lahat ‘yan may mga problem,” he added.

Pilapi's ongoing research assessing the administration’s ongoing push to steer the country to a federal form of government was funded by the UP-Diliman Office of the Chancellor. — DVM, GMA News