Writing Difficulties of Humanities and Social Sciences Learners in Philippine Politics and Governance

Writing is a very intricate skill to acquire among the four language skills. According to Gomaa (2010), writing is the most challenging language skill. This qualitative study was conducted to determine the writing difficulties committed by Humanities and Social Sciences (HumSS) learners and analyze how they develop a topic in Philippine Politics and Governance (PPG). Participants of the study were the Grade 11 learners of Morong NHS, Morong, Rizal, who took up the said subject for S.Y. 2019-2020 in its First Semester. Twelve (12) learners from the six (6) HumSS classes were considered using the Systematic Sampling Technique. This study employed the Grounded Theory approach to examine written output using codes from the three (3) phases of coding – Open, Axial, and Selective Coding. After the coding process, significant themes emerged and were subjected to analysis. Findings revealed that the most common difficulties committed by the participants when developing a topic are Grammatical Errors, Inappropriate Use of Political Concepts, and Inappropriate Choice of Vocabulary. It is also found out that Unnecessary Shift in Tense (UST), Ambiguous Pronoun Reference (APR), Loose Sentence (L.S.), Sentence Fragment (S.F.), Dangling Modifier (D.M.), and Wordy Sentence (W.S.) are next in line. Also, participants of this study choose to develop their topics in Exposition, Narration, Analogy, and Examples/Illustrations. More so, participants in this study also found it hard to create an issue when given a Philippine Politics and Governance writing task due to language constraints evident in their writing outputs.

Varieties of Clientelism in Comparative Democracies: Power, State Formation and Citizenship in the Philippines, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Clientelism in comparative democracies have evolved through time within informal and formal institutions. Using the book by Brkovic, that follows the tradition of challenging the unidimensional view of clientelism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, this essay provides the Philippine case as contrast and comparison. The article examines how both countries’ experience can open new avenues for us to understand the durability of clientelism and its relationship with formal and informal institutions. Brokovic’s agency and personhood within clientelistic relationships accounts for the endurance of this practice in democratic societies that experienced transition. Clientelism persists in part due to the reliability of personal relations over the ability of public institutions to deliver. This review article will probe clientelism, as it manifests in the politics of the Philippines and its democratic institutions. Among the multiple types of clientelistic relationship in the Philippines, some emphasize the role of machine politics, corruption, and coercion. Brković’s book provides a new lens of analysis by looking at clientelism through personhood and agency as power. The contribution of the book on the discourse of clientelism can deepen the understanding of Philippine politics because it encourages an analysis that looks at the exercise of democracy through personhood, agency, and informal institutions. It invites us to view clientelism not just through corruption and violence. By combining the analysis that utilizes formal and informal institutions, personhood and structuralist, this essay explains why some countries that have transitioned into democracies remain ambiguous states and explain the persistence of clientelism.

Beyond Personalistic Politics: A Progressive Congresswoman’s Challenge to a Political Dynasty in Dinagat Islands, Philippines

Political dynasties remain powerful in Philippine politics to this day. However, in recent years, the Philippines has experienced some significant transformations in the realm of traditional politics. Some politicians have emerged at the local level willing to confront those supported by dynastic politics. Since most literature on Philippine politics have emphasized the durability of elite domination, such changes have not yet been fully studied. This article addresses how progressive politics evolves in contention with a political dynasty based on a qualitative, exploratory case study approach by highlighting the case of Dinagat Islands where a progressive congresswoman who ran for Congress defeated a candidate from an entrenched political dynasty by practicing programmatic governance. It explores how government capacity to respond to demands of the people can be improved. As a result of this, the article clarifies a new, though not common, dynamic of Philippine politics in the 2010s and provides important implications for the possibility of future political development and theorizing in the country.

Politics of the Philippines: From Rizal to Duterte

The heartland of former Spanish East Indies and once America’s sole colony in Asia, the Philippines is a land of mind-bending paradoxes, where swift changes have gone hand in hand with obstinate continuities. The Southeast Asian nation witnessed the birth of Asia’s first modern nationalist movement, initially led by the progressive sections of the Creole class and the so-called ilustrado mestizos, but reaching its apogee in the final years of the 19th century under the command of (Tagalog-dominated) provincial gentry and a broad coalition of petty bourgeois nationalists. In contrast, advanced state-formation came relatively late to the island nation, which has a limited history of large-scale polities in the precolonial era compared to neighboring Indonesia (Majapahit Empire) or Cambodia (Khmer Empire). A century since the advent of ‘first Filipinos,’ the country’s nation-building project remains glaringly unfinished, hobbled by persistent ethnolinguistic divides and Islamist and Communist movements that are among the world’s longest-running such insurgencies. For almost five centuries, Catholicism stood as the dominant religion in the country, but recent decades have seen homegrown evangelical groups become major forces in the country’s political landscape with the advent of denominational ‘bloc voting.’ A major entrepot during the trans-pacific Galleon Trade, the country became a regional economic powerhouse from the late 18th century up until the mid-20th century. Building on bouts of liberal reforms during Spanish colonialism and Commonwealth institutions under American tutelage, the Philippines also boasts among the oldest democratic institutions in the postcolonial world. The past half century, however, witnessed the country’s decline to the “Sick man of Asia” following decades of political instability and absence of sustained economic development. Amidst massive inequality and rampant corruption, the country has repeatedly relapsed into various permutations of authoritarian rule, from the Ferdinand Marcos dictatorship to the resurgent populism of Rodrigo Duterte in recent years. In international politics, the Philippines has undergone a similarly turbulent trajectory, repeatedly caught in between rival empires, from Spanish–American Wars in the late-19th century to its strategic flirtation with a rising China despite its formal military alliance with America. What has remained largely constant is the composition of the country’s ruling elite, thanks to its remarkable geopolitical adaptability. The upshot is a weak state enfeebled by powerful interest groups and checked by a vibrant civil society. Accordingly, the study of Philippine politics should cover its troubled nation-state-formation, cacique-dominated political economy and attendant authoritarian temptations, as well as the unique brand of populist and liberal topes in its political discourse.

Key Philippine-US pact should endure through 2021

Significance In February 2020, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he would terminate the pact. With the termination process having been extended twice, the VFA is now due to expire in August 2021. Impacts China will continue to assert its territorial and jurisdictional claims in the Philippines’s exclusive economic zone. Beijing’s pledges to invest in Philippine infrastructure will only be partially implemented. Philippine politics will be increasingly dominated by manoeuvring related to the May 2022 general election.

The Philippines: Civil-Military Relations, from Marcos to Duterte

The Philippines has been beset by several instances of military mutinies since the end of the Marco dictatorship. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) were also actively involved in pressuring the resignation of President Joseph Estrada and in propping up the presidency of Estrada’s successor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The military’s actions suggested that that the armed forces’ influence in Philippine politics was on the rise. Since that time, with no instances of coups and mutinies under the presidencies of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Rodrigo Roa Duterte, military adventurism appears to be on the decline. Could it be that civilian supremacy is ascendant in the Philippines and the AFP have abandoned their “interventionist tendency” in civilian affairs? An examination of the patterns in post-Marcos Philippine civil-military relations in five domains—elite recruitment, public policy, internal security, national defense, and military organization—indicates that the AFP remain a highly politicized institution. Although institutional guardrails to preserve civilian supremacy have been instituted, with positive moves to professionalize and reorient the armed forces toward an external security posture, challenges in the areas of elite-dominated and clientelistic governance and the country’s protracted insurgencies remain obstacles to civilian political leaders’ authority over the military.

FIGHTING THE OLIGARCHS: PRESIDENT DUTERTE AND THE ARGUMENT AGAINST ELITE RULE – A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE ACADEME

The focus of this study is the radical politics of President Rodrigo Duterte. The leader has clashed with influential businessmen on critical issues. This investigation examines the president’s battle against the oligarchy in the country. This research will try show that the rise to power of the first president from Mindanao is a reaction to elite rule. It seeks to reveal that the style of leadership of Duterte is reflective of the historical context that the critics of the president fail to account for. In arguing the case for Duterte’s non-conventional approach in overhauling Philippine politics and society, the issues involving some conglomerates in the country are mentioned. In terms of method, the interpretive and analytical approach will be used, citing the available literature and documents to strengthen the article’s arguments. The significance of this study has something to do with the idea of good governance. It argues that in the pursuit of a truly democratic society, the foundations of the basic structure must be strengthened. The pragmatic leadership of Duterte is a reflection of the deeper kind of radical change or substantive transformation that is needed to fight elite rule.