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Letter to the Editor

Ike Señeres

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THERE is a profound similarity in the way that large scale software programming works, and the way that nationwide political subsidiarity is supposed to work. The standard approach in large scale software programming is to subdivide a problem into many manageable parts, the problem being the goal of creating many lines of code that would eventually work as one functional program. Subdivision in large scale software programming is done by writing several sets of standalone codes that would eventually work as one seamless software program. The standard approach in nationwide political subsidiarity is to subdivide a national goal into the smallest unit of production and implementation, in such as way that the collective outcome would eventually add up to one combined effect.

In the political context, subsidiarity is an implementation approach that is based on the principle that tasks or matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or the least centralized unit or authority. As it is supposed to be, the political decisions should be undertaken at the lowest possible level, instead of undertaking it at the level of a centralized authority. For example, in the Philippine context, political decisions should be undertaken at the barangay level, instead of undertaking these in the so-called “Imperial Manila”. It appears that the subsidiarity principle originated in the Roman Catholic Church, and that is perhaps the reason why Catholic parish priests are able to make their own decisions without consulting the Vatican. One way or the other, the principle has been associated with decentralization, rightly or wrongly.

Autonomy and devolution are the two other words that are associated with decentralization, again rightly or wrongly. It seems however that devolution is more of a means rather than an end in itself, meaning that it is the process not the outcome. In that context, it would seem that subsidiarity is neither a process nor an outcome, but is perhaps just an approach that is based on a principle. It could however be argued that the subsidiarity principle could be applied in order to bring about decentralization, in which case the final outcome would be autonomy. Thereafter, certain centralized functions could be devolved, and perhaps it is in that context that the word devolution should be used.

In the midst of the controversies surrounding the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), I revisited the Local Government Code (LGC) in search of some guidance. While doing that, I discovered that the law is replete with provisions for conditional autonomy, albeit with some limitations. As provided for in the law, all provincial governments could practically become autonomous if they want to. To be specific however, there are no provisions in the law that would allow a region to be autonomous. That is so, because there are no regional governments to speak of. There is however a provision to regularly convene the Regional Development Councils (RDCs), and at that level the provincial governments would be able to coordinate their actions.

In theory, national sovereignty could never be taken away, because it could only be given up by the people of a country that have collectively decided to give it up. In a similar manner, it could be said that local autonomy would be of no use even if it is actually given to them, if the people of a province would collectively decide not to avail of it. The bottom line of this is political will, because a people could lose their sovereignty if they no longer have the political will to defend it, or to take it back. Conversely, the people of a province would waste their autonomy if they would not have the political will to uphold it, or to even make use of it.

Although subsidiarity could already be applied in order to make autonomy work at the local level, the main limitations are caused by the presence of national agencies at the provinces, all performing tasks that could already be delegated locally. For example, the three agencies Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) are all performing tasks that are generally supposed to be local functions. These are the police, fire safety and jail functions. As I see it, certain functions of the Philippine National Police (PNP) could be kept intact as having national purposes, but that does not mean that Local Government Units (LGUs) should not have their own local police departments.

When it comes to fire safety, we are perhaps one of the few countries that have centralized functions, fire protection being generally considered as a local concern. Same goes for local jail functions that are being performed now by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP). As it is now, it seems that there is a lot of overlap between what the BJMP does and what the Bureau of Corrections (Bucor) does, yet another jailing agency that is under the Department of Justice (DOJ). Because of the limited funding that the government could give to the jailing function, it is certainly time to rationalize the whole equation, so that it could give way to local autonomy.

Without any doubt, the advocacy for decentralization got a negative image when the supervision of the local public hospitals was devolved to the LGUs. There were definitely failures in the process, but that should not discourage us, because that does not really mean that the principle of subsidiarity is no longer workable. Instead of being discouraged by that sad experience, we should gather the firm resolve to make the principle work. At this point, what is important is for all of us to realize that there is no more need to grant autonomy to the provinces, because it is already provided for in the law. Hopefully, the government could find a solution to the problem of peace in Mindanao, but in doing so, we should not confuse autonomy with sovereignty. It is one thing to make de jure autonomy work for certain Mindanao provinces; it is another thing to carve out a separate territory and to give it sovereignty.

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