Episode 10: The question of Philippine federalism, Part 1

Consider the following question: Would you rather have our government run by competent national officials, or by less competent local officials with better ties to local communities?

Or to paraphrase Pres. Manuel L. Quezon, who said he’d rather have a government “run like hell by Filipinos to a government run like heaven by Americans”, would you prefer your town to be “run like hell” by local officials than to be “run like heaven” remotely by distant officials from Imperial Manila?

In other words: Is good governance preferable to self-governance? This is the question of the hour, as we consider federalism.

Get the show notes to this podcast here.

Erratum: the podcast mentions that PDP-Laban fielded Corazon Aquino to run in 1986, but the election actually took place in 1985.