E Unum, Pluribus

Written on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 2:04 pm | by DJB

One of our greatest talents is the ability to turn well-established concepts on their head in a bid for self-aggrandizement through a radical kind of creativity.   The latest manifestation of this obsessive compulsion to achieve uniqueness, even at the expense of common sense and logicality,  is the Pimentel-Arroyo concept of “federalism” as proposed in Senate Joint Resolution No. 10. Here we have the Congress about to create eleven hitherto non-existent “States” (very roughly following the present administrative regional divisions of the government), by a Frankensteinian stitching together of the constituent provinces, cities and barangays in an eleven-tupling of the present tripartite national government bureaucracy, bang a few gavels and voila! you have the new Federal Republic of the Philippines magically appearing out of thin air.  From Chavit Singson’s “free port” of Ilokoslovakia  in the North;  to Juetenglandia in Central Luzon; to Ilagandia in the Visayas;  to the MILF’s neo-sultanic Islamic Fundamentalist State of Bangsamorostan in the South, — that is the purported Paradise of Peace and Amity among our 160 indigenous and non-indigenous peoples under a United States of the Philippines.

Taking this whole idea seriously and with a straight face (only so as to scratch upon the surface of its innate absurdity) I wonder if anyone has given any thought at all to the applicability of the principle of self-determination as a moral and political imperative on behalf of the peoples of those new “States”.  Unless it is simply a vast expansion of the government bureaucracy with bolder lines of division on the org-chart, there ought to be twelve plebisicites (including one for the Special Administrative Region of MegaManila) at the barangay level (the only fair level of atomization, I would think). Mssrs. Gerry and Mander ought not to have such a momentous decision.  Assuming that such a big to-do can actually be done, one wonders further about the nature, powers and prerogatives of each such newly minted “State”.  Will they be like Bangsamorostan as envisioned in the MOA-AD?  Can each adopt a State Constitution and with what parameters? More to the point, are they considered independent states that come together into a United States of the Philippines of their own popular free will?  Do they have a choice?   The whole exercise would seem to be meaningless otherwise.

Never mind for now that this may all be part of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s personal plans for how to avoid jumping off the tiger without getting her head chewed off in 2010.  What is remarkable is how we are suddenly founding a new principle: E Unum, Pluribus (”Out of the One, Many”) which has come by the more popular label, “dismemberment”.

For historical and conceptual comparision see here an article on the Great Seal of the United States of America contains the national motto “E Pluribus Unum” (”Out of the many, one”) — upon which Nene Pimentel and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo think they are improving. They are seriously deluded even if they played that naif, American Ambassador Kristie Kenney, and the US State Department like a fiddle on the MOA-AD using the US Congress’ surrogate, the United States Institute of Peace, as the bow. As a result, we should not be surprised if violence and strife now escalates in Mindanao to the point that US troops will have to get involved to clean up Arroyo’s and Kenney’s mess there.

In previous ripostes, our colleague Abe Margallo opines that Philippine federalism need not follow the path of the American or European Union at all, but that of Spain, though I think even a comparison to the latter is perforce strained to breaking, if the MOA-AD is any measure.

My basis thesis is that for all the historical and legal wrangling, (see for example the recent post here at Filipino Voices from Datu Mastura) Democracy itself has evolved to the point where there can be no more compromising its most basic and cherished principles–namely those rights, freedoms and duties enshrined in the Constitution. Foremost among these is Freedom of Religion, against which the establishment of a State Theocracy may not stand, not even under the guise of “local autonomy”.  Likewise, dhimmitude for the kafir in such states as the proposed Bangsamoro Juridical Entity is democratically anathema even if the rights of Non-Muslims are promised “respect”.  No way, no how, no theocracy in Mindanao!  Respect for culture does not trump respect for non-negotiable, fundamental democratic human rights.

We are One in Democracy, imperfect as it is,  or we shall be Many in Chaos.  What we are witnessing in that MOA-AD and federalism is the surrender of those principles at the point of terrorist guns, ambuscades and beheadings.

You see, it is not only Islam that has unalterable and dogmatic principles of faith which we must and will  defend with our blood and treasure, such as they are.

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About The Author: DJB says: Science IS Religion! He blogs at Philippine Commentary and The Rizalist Press

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Comments

2 Responses to “E Unum, Pluribus”

  1. cocoy on September 1st, 2008 2:25 pm

    agrees. Senate Joint Resolution 10 is a farce.

  2. Dean Jorge Bocobo on September 1st, 2008 10:04 pm

    Some think it’s dead in the water. I think it’s just playing possum.

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