Manuel L. Quezon III Profile picture
Nov 28, 2021 14 tweets 6 min read Read on X
A thread on one of the most intriguing but which will probably remain unexplored, factors in the 2022 campaign. Federalism. Interesting FM Jr. pick the Partido Federal instead of the KBL or NP to whom his family has had long-standing affiliations.
KBL is out because it brings back too many bad memories and NP is out because since the Laurels conveyed it to the Villars, it isn't wholly-owned by the Marcoses (and brings up the KBL, with thew Laurels keeping it alive).
FM Jr. has blown hot and cold on Federalism but this article quotes him accurately on his father: "Federalism was not new to the country, Marcos said, because it was adopted by his father,.. when the Interim Batasang Pambansa was created." newsinfo.inquirer.net/929263/federal…
(From Philippine Electoral Almanac) Here is the division of the country into regions, on the basis of which, Assemblymen (Members of Parliament) were elected in 1978. It was a brief experiment in fundamentally redrawing political borders within the country.
(From Electoral Almanac) By 1984 the experiment was over, Assemblymen (Members of Parliament) elected in 1984 represented provinces. Regions exist to this day, but as a shadowy remnant relevant mainly to the bureaucracy.
What even FM couldn't escape was the territorial confines of existing provinces and the political calculus of gerrymandering to divide-and-rule: Quezon province and Moro areas being hotbeds of rebellion and thus needed to be broken up, politically (see shaded areas).
To be sure, Federalism is an old idea; but the details often derail it: first problem, which are regions? Aguinaldo proposed the stars: LuzViMin; but even in the Visayas, there were different states that actually briefly existed (see details on striped areas).
In many ways, even as we've sought to redraw our internal political map, the whole mapping exercise is part historical accident, part warped evolution (warped because short-sightedly pushed forward by parochial political concerns). quezon.ph/2017/06/12/spo…
But at the same time, it's an idea that returns with regularity and in the past 20 years or so, with greater conviction, as I've been observing since 2009. quezon.ph/2009/07/10/not…
Anyway, here is a summary of Federalism as an idea, and its proposals in principle, from an #InquirerBriefing from 2017.
Proponents can change their mind over time (Rizal did). The details can be revealing. Rizal for example may have come close to how French Revolution dissolved old provinces and created entirely new ones. Regions came close to this. facebook.com/notes/90633143…
But again, the ambitions of Regions collided with the existing political geography of clans who define themselves and their territory by provinces. Whether FM's Regions as they've evolved today, or Pimentel's Federal Scheme, they're still arbitrary.
The current President had as thorough a mandate as anyone, to pursue the idea; it was shot down lot least by his own economic team and it seems Congress too, came to have its own misgivings. Yet outside officialdom the idea still has currency and it's that constituency addressed.
It's addressed because it appeals to two geographies, however minor in scale, that still adds to the Marcos coalition: Visayas and Mindanao. It's a pitch to current Federalism orphans abandoned by the President. Cost-free, because the FM Jr. campaign hasn't made it a core plank.

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More from @mlq3

May 19, 2023
Quick notes on the latest Arroyo-related brouhaha. 1. The lay of the land for the ruling coalition's interesting in that neither the prexy nor veep have pocket parties of consequence: the expected stampede was into a party in coalition, but not specifically led by the prexy. ImageImage
Essentially, GMA has been credited with: 1. being instrumental in the coalition that brought Duterte victory; 2. negotiating the 2022 tandem that accomplished first successful succession since 1992. The dilemma of the third wheel, politically. ImageImageImage
Initially, she seemed frozen out in the division of the spoils; but she started becoming a fixture in the travels of the President (to wean her away from the veep? As a foil to the President's elder sister and channel to veep? Simply to keep friends close, enemies closer?) Image
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@lucindomino There are two factors missing in your review. First what replaced parties for many reasons was national media, a process that began in 1955 with the abolition of bloc voting which was the basic building block of the national senate scheme. The erosion dated that far back. What…
@lucindomino disguised it was changing of the rules in 1987 abandoning the 8 at a time to make it 12 at a time at the instigation of premartial law losers who wanted a chance post martial law (incidentally abandoning making the senate a continuing body and also as surveys since have revealed
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Sep 23, 2022
(thread) The real question we have to ask in remembering #ML50 is less how did Marcos manage to get away with it, but rather, how did so many who knew what was coming, fail to stop it? The timeline reveals to us it was like a trainwreck in slow motion. philippinediaryproject.com/2021/08/27/a-t…
I have my own theories from reading up and listening to those who were active then. My theory is it took 1962-76 he actually did it in a lot of stages. What Makoy had going for him: every institution that could resist had cells of Marcos minded people. In media, Doroy Valencia...
in the courts, Fred Ruiz Castro, the Ilocano generals and all the colonels pissed off with the Commission on Appointments; legions of parents freaked out by hippies, priests and bishops freaked out by Reds, ditto businessmen big and small. Against him the usual intelligentsia...
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Sep 22, 2022
#ML50 What was happening 50 years ago today. September 23, 1972 the real date of martial law. From the comprehensive timeline available in the #PhilippineDiaryProject: philippinediaryproject.com/2021/08/27/a-t… (part 1)
#ML50 What was happening 50 years ago today. September 23, 1972 the real date of martial law. From the comprehensive timeline available in the #PhilippineDiaryProject: philippinediaryproject.com/2021/08/27/a-t… (part 2)
#ML50 What was happening 50 years ago today. September 23, 1972 the real date of martial law. From the comprehensive timeline available in the #PhilippineDiaryProject: philippinediaryproject.com/2021/08/27/a-t… (part 3)
Read 20 tweets
Sep 21, 2022
#ML50 Interviewed by the late Cynthia Sycip, the late Teodoro M. Locsin recounted his arrest early in the morning of September 23, 1972:
#ML50 Interviewed by the late Cynthia Sycip, the late Chino Roces reflected on his arrest on September 23, 1972:
#ML50 interviewed by the late Cynthia Sycip, the late broadcaster Jose Mari Velez recounted his arrest early in the morning of September 23, 1972:
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Sep 21, 2022
#ML50 What was happening 50 years ago today. September 22, 1972 was a truly eventful day when martial law began to be implemented. From the comprehensive timeline available in the #PhilippineDiaryProject: philippinediaryproject.com/2021/08/27/a-t… (part 1)
#ML50 What was happening 50 years ago today. September 22, 1972 was a truly eventful day when martial law began to be implemented. From the comprehensive timeline available in the #PhilippineDiaryProject: philippinediaryproject.com/2021/08/27/a-t… (part 2)
#ML50 What was happening 50 years ago today. September 22, 1972 was a truly eventful day when martial law began to be implemented. From the comprehensive timeline available in the #PhilippineDiaryProject: philippinediaryproject.com/2021/08/27/a-t… (part 3)
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