EDITORIAL - A new capital for Phl?

Senator Antonio Trillanes is not proud of Manila as the capital of the Philippines and has filed a bill seeking the creation of a commission that would study whether it is possible to make some place else as the new capital.

According to Trillanes, as quoted in a Yahoo! News report, Metro Manila is a capital which could hardly stand proud in the ranks of national capitals throughout the world, which occupy commanding positions in their nations' stature and development.

It is too early to commit a position to the proposal. But there is sense in creating a commission that would give it some serious thought and study. For there is truth in the observation of many people, not just Trillanes, that Manila is suffocating under its own weight.

If the Philippines does decide to shop around for another Capital, to at least remove from the Manila some, if not all, of its many functions as a capital, it will not find itself on queer street. There are other countries in the world that have moved out of the traditional “main street” as it were.

Take South Africa, for example, a member of the so-called “BRICS” or Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- five of the world's most rapidly expanding economies that have made a name for themselves outside of the traditional G-7 or G-20 or any of the other Gs that there might be, or are yet to emerge.

South Africa has three capitals -- Pretoria, the de facto capital which serves the executive or administrative functions of government; Cape Town, which hosts the legislative services; and Bloemfontein, the seat of the judicial functions.

Then there is the Netherlands, whose constitutional capital is Amsterdam. But the seat of government and parliament, as well as the Supreme Court and the Council of State, is located somewhere else, in The Hague. What proceeds from Trillanes' proposal may very well consider these examples.

It might even be worthwhile to consider Cebu, although its geographical location is certain to provoke very intense opposition. Still, it might be worthwhile to consider that even before there was the Philippines, there was already Cebu. But then again, it is too early to jump it. Let us have that study first.