Eduardo Araral, Jr., Paul D. Hutchcroft, Gilberto M. Llanto, Jonathan E. Malaya, Ronald U. Mendoza, and Julio C. Teehankee. Debate on Federal Philippines: A Citizen’s Handbook. Quezon City: Bughaw, 2017. 108 pp.

• Main Author: Juliano, Hansley
• Format: text
• Published: Archīum Ateneo 2018
• Online Access: https://archium.ateneo.edu/socialtransformations/vol6/iss1/7; https://archium.ateneo.edu/context/socialtransformations/article/1092/viewcontent/ST_206.1_207_20Book_20review_20__20Juliano.pdf
• Institution: Ateneo De Manila University

Excerpt: It is not an exaggeration to say that the debate on whether the Philippines should transition to a federal and parliamentary structure of government is about as old as our current Constitution. Just four months after the historic 1986 People Power Revolution, the contours of what would eventually become the 1987 Constitution had been subject to proposals on decentralization—tussling between the demands of local government officials for greater autonomy, the prerogative of the national government to rein in the excesses of these same local politicians, and the real demand towards changing the composition of the people elected in the Legislature (Jones 1986).