Debate on Federal Philippines: A Citizen's Handbook

by Eduardo Araral Jr., Paul D. Hutchcroft, Gilberto M. Llanto

108 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2017

Reviews

[Catherine Tan · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5 stars. This book performs its functions as a guidebook (i.e., informative, lays out the bare bones of the stakes involved) and as a layman's translation of scholarly debates. For students of IR/Political Science/Social Sciences, this might even serve as a decent refresher.

I couldn't give it a full four or five stars though because I was expecting a much more rigorous debate that contains insight and hard stances.

In the end, this is best for those who are just looking for a primer and a place to start. For anything beyond that, you would have to look to journal articles and your own research.

[Margot Pitero · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good overview and crash course of the political landscape of the Philippines. By "citizen," however, you must have at least been exposed to basic political concepts to understand this. It's not in layman's terms but again, it's a very good overview of what the Philippines is and what it could be under federalism.

[Niko Lavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

"The hybrid model with a strong presidency-~-was that not what Marcos wanted?

Ferdinand Marcos only adopted a bastardized version of semi-presidentialism to legitimize his dictatorial powers under the 1973 Constitution. Marcos's fake semi-presidential system was a ruse to concentrate dictatorial powers in the presidency (Pangalangan 1981, 236)."