Federalism: Pointing Out an Inaccuracy

Screengrab from GMA News Online.

CHEERS TO some media organizations for pointing out the inaccurate claim of President Rodrigo Duterte regarding federalism during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA). Speaking about a change in government type, Duterte said that he wanted to copy the “France system” (sic).

GMA News Online’s “Duterte’s design for federalism closer to German model, says expert” posted on July 28, quoted University of the Philippines political science Professor Temario Rivera as saying that the president should have referred to the German system of government during the forum “State of the Presidency” in UP.

The report quoted Rivera saying “Yung reference ni President Duterte sa French system, medyo mali, dahil hindi federal system ang France. Unitary system, but a hybrid unitary system, dahil mayroong strong president— directly elected strong president—but also yung day-to-day affairs of government mayroong prime minister.” (The reference of President Duterte to the French system is incorrect because France does not have a federal system. It has a unitary system, although a hybrid one, because there is a strong president—a directly elected strong president—but there is also a prime minister to run the day-to-day affairs of government.

A column by Solita Collas-Monsod in the Philippine Daily Inquirer also provided clarification (“Shoot now, ask questions later,” July 30). “I hope he studied it. Because the French 5th Republic with this system replaced the 4th Republic’s purely parliamentary system, the French having decided that they wanted to have a president also with great power,” Monsod wrote. “But, Reader, the French system is NOT a federal system.” She added.

No news accounts in primetime as well as print covered this and provided clarification during the monitored period (July 26-31).