The difference between US and Phl politics
When the Philippines was still a commonwealth, our leaders ordained and promulgated a Philippine constitution in 1935, which was practically copied from the constitution of the United States, especially its Bill of Rights. We also copied the presidential system of government, and adopted such principles as the separation of powers, the checks and balances, the bicameral Congress, the independence of the judiciary, and the separation between the church and the state.
Just like the USA, we have a Senate and our senators are elected nationwide. In the US, all the senators are elected only by the citizens in the respective states, regardless of size. Texas and California, the two biggest states, have only two senators each equal to the two senators each from a small state like Hawaii and Vermont. But the House of Representatives in the US is composed of congressmen whose numbers in each state depend on the size of their respective population.
In politics, the US has a very strong, stable and well-disciplined party system based on political principles and ideologies, while the Philippine political parties are fluid, usually personality-based and are not anchored on clear values, principles or political philosophies. In the US, the Democratic and the Republican parties have remained strongly organized and led for centuries since the times of George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, up to the era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, the Bushes, until Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter and Barrack Obama.
The political parties in the Philippines are organized around certain politicians. If you talk of LP, it is PNoy, Abad, Drilon and Abaya. If you mention NP, it is Villar. The NPC is Danding Cojuangco and UNA is Jojo Binay. Now, Grace and Chiz are putting up Galing at Puso or Gapos, while Miriam is using PRP and Duterte does not care about party. And Duterte is right because there are no principles that distinguish one from the others. The parties here do not have discipline. Thus, while the NPC declared support for Poe and Escudero, one third of NPC officials are supporting Roxas and Robredo, and some are endorsing Binay.
What I like in US politics are the primaries and the caucuses. This is a system of screening the numbers of aspirants. It is also a way of giving importance to the grassroots, and listening to the voices in the provinces, cities and barangays. However, I do not like the electoral college. The direct voting is more preferable and I detest that anomalous situation where President George Bush lost in the popular vote but won the electoral votes. Well, what we are saying is that there a lot of features in US politics that may work well here, as there are also many things there that won't work in the Philippines.
Perphaps after the elections, it is time to reexamine our Constitution and consider Mayor Duterte's advocacy for a federal system of government. The US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Malaysia and many other advanced countries have federal governments. Most ASEAN member-nations have parliamentary forms. Both federalism and being parliamentary are more suited to the values, temperament and culture of Asians in general and Filipinos in particular.
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