Federalism in the light of our history

A. Paulita Roa

WE all know that the Philippines is composed of 7,100 islands. But many are not aware of the fact that since there are over 80 languages and dialects spoken by the populace, our cultural traits are equally diverse too. There are Malay, Sanskrit and Chinese loan words found in our languages, showing the vast cultural influences early Filipinos had with other Southeast Asian countries during the prehispanic period. That plus the Spanish and English loan words infused in our speech today that is a result of the two colonial periods that this country was subjected to from 1565 to 1946. The numerous languages  spoken around the archipelago is an indicator of the many different ethnolinguistic identities that we have. We call ourselves Filipinos but we are usually identified as Bisaya, Ilocano, Ifugao, Bol-anon,Tagalog, Maranao, Manobo and so on. Let’s face it, we are “regionalistic” in our mindset and ways and this is one of the prime reasons why we cannot get our act together as one united nation.

In order to understand fully why regionalism is deeply ingrained in the Filipino psyche, specifically in the period long before the Spanish conquistadores came to our shores. By knowing our history, we can understand and relate to to the present problems that is plaguing our country today. My data came from several books of eminent Philippine prehistorian, Dr. William Henry Scott. He wrote that in the absence of a prehispanic document of “uncontested authority,” he, like other historians have turned to nearby countries for references about the Philippines. Scott was also a Chinese scholar, so he researched from Chinese imperials records as well as the 15th century records from Portuguese, Spanish and other Southeast Asian countries.

There are big wooden pegged boats that according to Antonio Pigafetta, Magellan’s chronicler, are called “balanghai.” In the 1970s  these boats were found by archaeologists in Butuan City. Three were Carbon-14 dated to 320 AD, 10th century and 1250. The balanghais attest to the fact that early Filipinos went on long ocean voyages around Southeast Asia and had a dynamic maritime trade with Indian, Arab, Indonesian, Chinese and Vietnamese merchants.

On March 17,1001, P’u-tuan or Butuan through its trading partner, Champa (Vietnam) opened diplomatic ties with Imperial China. P’u-tuan was described by Sung History as a “small country” to the east of Champa (Vietnam) and farther from Ma-i (Mindoro). Ma-i was an important country to the Chinese for it delivered goods to Canton. It had a well situated port that controlled the flow of goods around the archipelago and beyond.

In 1373, the first tribute mission from Luzon arrive in China. There was a small note that mentioned the Pangasinan mission was given a state banquet by the Chinese emperor in 1411. In 1417, three rulers from Sulu arrived in China with a large entourage that included 340 wives, officials and servants. They presented to the Emperor a memorial written in gold, tributes of pearls, precious stones and tortoise shell. All the leaders of these tribute missions were accorded with honor, given special titles and lavished with expensive gifts, cash, flags and armor. The Chinese imperial records referred to the rulers of Luzon as chieftains, the heads of state from Sulu and Mindanao were addressed as “Wang” or monarch and received honors on the same level as the Shah of Malacca.

Fast forward to the early 15th century. In this period in time, Maynila was a Muslim kingdom by the Pasig River. The ruling family was closely related to the Brunei royal family. There were many large groups of Muslims around Luzon aside from Sulu and Maguindanao. It was in contrast to the Visayans and other people groups who were nature worshipers. However, religious tolerance was observed by the people around the archipelago. The ruler of Limasawa controlled the shipping lanes between the Pacific coast and central Visayas. It was also a Butuan satellite. Cebu was a rich market of gold, slaves and rice. The kingdom of Bohol was trading with the Moluccans and Chinese.

Malay was the lingua franca of all Asian ports and this was spoken also by Filipinos from rulers to the slaves. Moluccas was then the world center of spice trade and many prominent Filipino merchants were there like Surya Diraja of Luzon who annually exported 175 tons of pepper to China from his plantations in Malacca. Then there were the first group of Pinoy OFWs who worked in big ships owned by Filipinos or as mercenaries in Moluccas, Java and other countries around Southeast Asia.

In 1521, when Ferdinand Magellan and his expeditionary force came to our islands, they were greeted warmly by the Filipinos, thinking that they were merchants as they were used to deal with foreign ships that regularly visit their ports bringing many kinds of merchandise. The Spaniards were amazed to see the amount of gold worn by the natives, their silk dresses and the Chinese porcelain wares that they used in their household. Forty-four years after the death of Magellan in Mactan, Miguel Lopez de Legazpi came to colonize the country and called it Filipinas, a name that was given by an early Spanish explorer Villalobos.

Through his iron fist policy, all the small kingdoms or mini states were abolished with the exception of the Maguindanao and Sulu sultanates and much of the interior areas of Mindanao that could not be subjugated by Spain. The 333 years of Spanish colonial rule was marked with oppression, abuses, injustice and exploitation. The Muslim and Christian wars was ignited by the Spaniards in the 1620s and has yet to be resolved to this day.

After almost 50 years of colonial rule, the Americans granted us our independence in 1946 and left us with a flawed presidential form of government that is centralized with high governmental powers and authority emanating from Imperial Manila. There is a great need to change this kind of government and the best solution is through federalism as espoused by presidential candidate Rodrigo Roa Duterte. Federalism is a union of different states or provinces in which each member state of province agrees to subordinate its governmental power to that of the central government for specific common affairs (Merriam – Webster Dictionary). The states or provinces are self-governing when it comes to internal affairs. However, each will support the central government in matters of common or national interests.

Our history shows that it will be best for us to be like the independent states during the prehispanic period for we are a nation that has different languages, temperaments and cultural traits. We have suffered enough from bad and corrupt governance that did not benefit most of us, Filipinos but only a privileged few. As we go to the polls on Monday, let us vote for the person that will truly bring the change that we all hoped for–a change of government through federalism that will impact our nation in a positive way. Let us vote for Rodrigo Roa Duterte as the 16th President of the Philippines. God bless us all!