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Toward a More Comprehensive Analysis of Philippine Politics: Beyond the Patron-Client, Factional Framework

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet
Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet
Affiliation:
Australian National University
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Extract

Thirty years ago, a theory of Philippine politics emerged that until now remains the most influential among academics and is widely adopted by journalists, diplomats and other observers of the Philippines. Its argument, in brief, is that Philippine politics revolves around interpersonal relationships — especially familial and patron-client ones — and factions composed of personal alliances. I refer to this as the patron-client, factional framework pcf, for short). It deserves to be influential; after all, patron-client and other personal relations are indeed significant in Philippine political life. These are also important features in many other countries; hence, the pcf framework developed for Philippine studies has contributed as well to comparative political studies.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , September 1995 , pp. 401 - 419
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 1995

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References

I am grateful for comments on earlier versions from two anonymous readers for the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies and from Carl Landé, Melinda Tria Kerkvliet and Bruce Cruikshank.

1 Hollnsteiner, Mary R., The Dynamics of Power in a Philippine Municipality (Quezon City: Community Development Research Center, University of the Philippines, 1963)Google Scholar.

2 Landé, Carl, Leaders, Factions, and Parties: The Structure of Philippine Politics (New Haven: Southeast Asia Studies, Yale University, 1965), p. 1Google Scholar.

3 Ibid., p. 17.

4 Hollnsteiner, Dynamics of Power, Landé, Leaders, Factions, and Parties: Corpuz, Onofre, The Philippines (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1965), p. 97Google Scholar; Agpalo, Remigio E., The Political Elite and the People: A Study of Politics in Occidental Mindoro (Manila: College of Public Administration, University of the Philippines, 1972)Google Scholar.

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6 The revival of rival political machines since the demise of Marcos's is often cited in news coverage and commentary in the Philippines and abroad. For instance, see de Quiros, Conrado, “A Triumph, Yes — but of What”, Philippine Daily Inquirer (16 05 1992): 5Google Scholar; Far Eastern Economic Review (19 03 1992): 22–30Google Scholar.

7 The term “new men” is from Kit Machado, who has done the most work on the evolution of Philippine political machines. Machado, K.G., “Changing Aspects of Factionalism in Philippine Local Politics”, Asian Survey 11 (12): 1182–99CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Machado, K.G., “Leadership and Organization in Philippine Local Politics” (Ph.D. diss., University of Washington, 1972)Google Scholar; Machado, K.G., “Changing Patterns of Leadership Recruitment and the Emergence of the Professional Politician in Philippine Local Politics”, in Political Change in the Philippines: Studies of Local Politics Preceding Martial Law, ed. Kerkvliet, Benedict J. (Honolulu: Asian Studies at Hawaii, University Press of Hawaii, 1974), pp. 77–129Google Scholar.

8 For instance, see Landé, , Leaders, Factions, and Parties, pp. 62, 68, 79, 115Google Scholar.

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12 Kerkvliet, , Everyday Politics, ch. 7Google Scholar.

13 Gutierrez, Eric, et al. , All in the Family: A Study of Elites and Power Relations in the Philippines (Quezon City: Institute for Popular Democracy, 1992), p. 160Google Scholar.

14 Beckett, Jeremy, “Political Families and Family Politics among the Muslim Maguindanaon of Cotabato”, in An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines, ed. McCoy, Alfred (Madison: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Wisconsin, 1993), p. 286Google Scholar.

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17 Contrast, for instance, Landé, Carl, Southern Tagalog Voting, 1946–1963: Political Behaviour in a Philippine Region (Dekalb: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, 1973), especially p. 99Google Scholar and Shantz, “Political Parties”, pp. 145, 244, 286–89 with McCoy, Alfred, “Quezon's Commonwealth: The Emergence of Philippine Authoritarianism”, in Philippine Colonial Democracy, ed. Paredes, Ruby R. (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1989), p. 131Google Scholar and Gibbs, Eugene, “Family and Politics: A study of a Filipino Middle Class Family” (Ph.D. diss., Claremont Graduate School, 1971), p. 127Google Scholar.

18 For Cebu see Mojares, Resil, “Political Change in a Rural District in Cebu Province”, in From Marcos to Aquino: Local Perspectives on Political Transition in the Philippines, ed. Kerkvliet, Benedict J. Tria and Mojares, Resil (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1991), pp. 59–81Google Scholar; for Marawi, see Bentley, Carter, “People Power and After in the Islamic City of Marawi”, in From Marcos to Aquino, pp. 36–58Google Scholar; for Negros Occidental before and after the Marcos years, see McCoy, Alfred, “The Restoration of Planter Power in La Carlota City”, in From Marcos to Aquino, pp. 105–142Google Scholar. Jorge Coquia writes that the governor of Negros Occidental in the late 1940s and early 1950s financed his notorious private army from gambling dens sponsored by municipal mayors who collected protection money (tong) for the purpose. When units of the Philippine Army were sent there to police the polls in the 1951 elections, they were surprised to find that this “private army” was better equipped than they were [Coquia, Jorge R., The Philippine Presidential Election of 1953 (Manila: Philippine Education Foundation, 1955), pp. 37–38Google Scholar].

19 See, for example, Wurfel, David, Filipino Politics Development and Decay (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988), p. 37Google Scholar; Kerkvliet, Benedict J., The Huk Rebellion: A Study of Peasant Revolt in the Philippines (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977), p. 205Google Scholar; Thompson, Mark, Democratic Opposition to Sultan-istic Rule: The Anti-Marcos Struggle and the Troubles Transition in the Philippines (New Haven: Yale University Press, forthcoming)Google Scholar; Coquia, , Philippine Presidential Election, pp. 35–37, 111–14Google Scholar; and Starner, Frances L., Magsaysay and the Philippine Peasantry (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), pp. 60, 65–66, 252Google Scholar. Also see reports in the Manila Chronicle, September–November 1949.

20 Wurfel, , Filipino PoliticsGoogle Scholar.

21 Thompson, , Democratic Opposition to Sultanistic RuleGoogle Scholar.

22 Ando, “Elections in the Philippines”, pp. 77–80; Landé, , Southern Tagalog Voting, p. 98Google Scholar; Landé and Cigler, “Social Cleavage and Political Parties”, pp. 38–41.

23 Shantz, , “Political Parties”, p. 275Google Scholar.

24 Blanc-Szanton, Cristina, “Change and Politics in a Western Visayan Municipality”, in From Marcos to Aquino, pp. 82–104Google Scholar; Eder, James, “Political Transition in a Palawan Farming Community”, in From Marcos to Aquino, pp. 143–65Google Scholar; Kerkvliet, Benedict J. Tria, “Understanding Politics in a Nueva Ecija Rural Community”, in From Marcos to Aquino, pp. 226–46Google Scholar; Mojares, Resil, “Political Change in a Rural District in Cebu Province”, in From Marcos to Aquino, pp. 59–81Google Scholar; Pertierra, Raul, “Community and Power in an Ilokano Municipality”, in From Marcos to Aquino, pp. 247–65Google Scholar; Pinches, Michael, “The Working Class Experience of Shame, Inequality and People Power in Tatalon, Manila”, in From Marcos to Aquino, pp. 166–86Google Scholar; Rosanne Rutten, “Courting the Workers' Vote: Rhetoric and Response in a Philippine Hacienda Region” (New York: Working Paper Series, New School for Social Research, 1993); Turner, Mark, “Politics During the Transition in Zamboanga City, 1984–1988”, in From Marcos to Aquino, pp. 13–35Google Scholar; Wolters, Willem, Politics, Patronage and Class Conflict in Central Luzon (The Hague: Institute of Social Studies, 1983), ch. 3Google Scholar; Zialcita, Fernando, “Perspectives on Legitimacy in Ilocos Norte”, in From Marcos to Aquino, pp. 266–87Google Scholar.

25 Turner, , “Politics During the Transition”, p. 15Google Scholar.

26 Wurfel, , Filipino Politics, p. 109Google Scholar; Daroy, Petronilo, “On the Eve of Dictatorship and Revolution”, in Dictatorship and Revolution: Roots of People's Power, ed. Javate-de Dios, Aurora, et al. , (Metro Manila: Conspectus, 1988), pp. 4, 7Google Scholar.

27 Kerkvliet, , Huk RebellionGoogle Scholar.

28 For an elaboration, see Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet, “Contested Meanings of Elections in the Philippines”, unpublished paper, November 1993.

29 Landé, , Leaders, Factions, and Parties, p. 54Google Scholar.

30 Manila Chronicle, 25 Nov. 1969, p. 15; 28 Nov. 1969, p. 18.

31 Manila Chronicle, 18 Dec. 1969, p. 14; 22 Dec. 1969, p. 1; 1 Jan. 1970, p. 12; 21 Jan. 1970, p. 1; 3 Feb. 1970, p. 1.

32 Kerkvliet, , Everyday Politics, p. 233–34Google Scholar.

33 Zialcita, , “Perspectives on Legitimacy”, p. 281–82Google Scholar.

34 Symbolic of this elite alliance in opposition to Marcos regime was the “Facilitator Group”, “Convenor Group”, and “Potential Standard Bearers” — a “Who's Who” of the business and political elite not holding national government office — that emerged in 1984 then merged together later during that year and out of which in 1985 came the candidacies of Corazon Aquino and Salvador Laurel. (Ma. Diokno, Serena I., “Unity and Struggle”, in Dictatorship and Revolution, pp. 152–55Google Scholar.)

35 A sense of this mood is conveyed in an interview with Cecilia Munoz Palma, a former Supreme Court justice who was active in political organizations opposing Marcos. [Sicam, Paulynn P., “Interview: Cecilia Munoz Palma”, National Midweek (11 12 1985): 6–10Google Scholar.] Also see Canoy, Ruben, The Counterfeit Revolution: Martial Law in the Philippines (Manila: Philippine Elections, 1980), pp. 248–50Google Scholar. Many people I met in 1985 in Manila and rural areas were terribly worried about spreading civil war and hoped that a peaceful election would reverse that trend. The importance of the election and the seriousness with which many ordinary citizens regarded it are conveyed in a marvellous film directed by Gary Kildea about villagers in Bukidnon province. (Gary Kildea, “Valencia Diary”. Film/Video. Two hours. 1992.).

36 Personal correspondence from Dinky and Hec Soliman, 11 March 1986.

37 Though my search has not yet been comprehensive, I have thus far been unable to locate a scholarly analysis of any of these four politicians.

38 This and the next paragraph are based on Larkin, John A., Sugar and the Origins of Modern Philippine Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), pp. 196–200Google Scholar; Antonio S. Tan, “The Ideology of Pedro Abad Santos' Socialist Party” (Quezon City: Occasional Paper, Asian Center, University of the Philippines, 1984); Kerkvliet, Benedict J., “Peasant Rebellion in the Philippines” (Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1972), pp. 139–55Google Scholar; and Kerkvliet, , Huk Rebellion, pp. 52–53Google Scholar.

39 See, for example, Youngblood, Robert, Marcos Against the Church: Economic Development and Political Repression in the Philippines (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990)Google Scholar; Fabros, Wilfredo, The Church and Its Social Involvement in the Philippines, 1930–1972 (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1988)Google Scholar; and Giordano, Pasquale T., Awakening to Mission: The Philippine Catholic Church 1965–1981 (Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 1988)Google Scholar.

40 Kerkvliet, Melinda Tria, Manila Workers' Unions, 1900–1950 (Quezon City: New Day, 1992)Google Scholar.

41 The following discussion is based on interviews with people close to the movement, Metro Manila, January 1994, articles in Kasarinlan, 1992–93, and the collection of Communist Party and New People's Army documents, Malalimang Pagsusuri at Pagpapabagong-sigla/Profound Re-examination and Revitalization (Metro Manila, circa 1993Google Scholar).

42 This discussion is based on conversations during December 1993 and January 1994 with six people involved in these two organizations.

43 Pinches, , “Working Class Experience”, p. 183Google Scholar.

44 Ibid., p. 176.

45 Kerkvliet, , Everyday PoliticsGoogle Scholar.