Federalism may fragment, weaken this country, ex-SC justice warns

A former justice of the Supreme Court (SC) has warned the public of a “long lasting” effect if this “experiment” of shifting to a federal system fails.

While recognizing that there are many provisions of the Constitution that can be amended, former Associate Justice Vicente Mendoza said the changes should be done not in order to shift to a federal form of government.

“A shift to a federal system will weaken our republic…” Mendoza said during the ongoing hearing on Thursday by the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of code and jointly with the committee on electoral reforms on the Charter change initiative.

“Federalism will fragment this country … and the failure of this experiment will be long lasting,” he added.

Mendoza said this is not the right time yet to propose such an amendment “because this is not the Constitutional moment for making it.”

“Why, Mr. Chair? There’s just too much partisan strifes in the land that prevents a national consensus from building up or developing,” he said.

Instead of shifting to a federal form, the former Associate Justice pushed for “greater de-centralization,” which he said has not been fully practiced, observed and implemented yet.

“We’ve not reached the end of the road. We’ve not reached the dead end. We’ve not reached the bottom so let’s try de-centralization instead of federalizing and dividing the country,” Mendoza said.

On the issue of how Congress should vote on any amendments or revisions, he said the two chambers — the Senate and the House of Representatives— should sit and discuss jointly but separate when voting on certain sections.

“if we are to amend the Constitution, it is to improve the Constitution, make it more perfect and to do that, as we amend the Constitution, I hope we also amend men’s nature to conform to that Constitution,” Mendoza added. /jpv