will not work without people changing themselves also. There are three aspects that make for a working community at any level from a village to a nation:
- the rules are clear and are followed without much supervision by most people
- for those who don’t follow the rules sanctions are clear and implemented
- the procedure for making the rules is clear, consistent and adhered to
Ideally, the rules implement subsidiarity, solidarity and humanity (link) – and fit the culture of the people so that living them is neither onerous nor difficult. Democracy in its many variations is one of the best ways of keeping the rules up-to-date and making sure they are the will of a majority, while well-constructed constitutions make sure majorities do not make life difficult for minorities.
- Parliamentary systems can be useful if there are many different forces in a country, usually represented by multiple political parties
- Federal systems can be useful if a country has many different local traditions and different situations in different parts of it
- Presidential systems are somewhat more decisive than federal and parliamentary systems which can be contentious
There are lots of variants of federal systems – from the United States where each state can make its own penal laws to the German federalism where states can make laws about things like noise pollution or zoning but penal codes and curfews for young people like those contained in the Protection of Young Persons Act (link) are strictly federal matters. American federalism has Senators coming from different states, two each, while German federalism has deputies from State Parliaments in the Upper House. How to achieve balance without the deadlock so typical for Filipinos?
Another aspect is the distribution of power between head of State (President) and head of government (Prime Minister or Chancellor) in a parliamentary system. In a Presidential system the President is both. The President of Germany has practically only ceremonial powers, although he can indeed refuse to sign a law which is very seldom done. The Presidents of France and Romania have more powers. From what I remember the 1973 Constitution had a similar distribution, but Marcos had it changed by a referendum, making the Prime Minister (Virata) relatively powerless.
Aside from all these systems being discussed, many Filipinos seem to remain the main problem. Changing the rules to suit themselves and their group – or immaturely crying foul if they or their group are not favored by the rules – seems to be a common issue. Also abstract rules mean little for many it seems – only the personal presence of a barangay captain (datu), a strict policeman or a strongman kind of ruler makes them follow rules – and these rules are often not even real rules but just arbitrary spur-of-the-moment decisions. How to raise that consciousness? I don’t know.
Irineo B. R. Salazar, München, 12 May 2016