Tricia Anne M.

Castro IS 412 July 26, 1997

IV-SG Ms. Golez

THE POLITICS OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES:

Not just any form of government can pursue the dream of national development in

any country. There are several factors that are to be considered before one can really

determine the most appropriate system to adopt. Geography can be an indispensable

factor. For example, in the United States of America where they are using a Federal form

of government. It is feasible for them to adopt this kind of system because the states are

very close to each other, thus they can maintain good communication with the other

states despite the autonomy of one state from another. If one would apply this to our

7,107-island country, it is not very advisable because of communication difficulties. The

Philippine geography does not have a favorable structure that will help enable us to live

unity among our neighbors. It is as if one island is independent from the other islands.

Another factor to look into is the political history of the Philippines. Our country has tried

authoritarianism during the Marcos administration and it did not work. It worsened the

economy because of the pragmatic concerns of the late president. This lost the trust of the

people towards the government and to regain this back is a difficult and long process.

And going back even further, we have been colonized by the Spanish, Americans, and by

the Japanese before we acquire total independence. There are several other factors to

consider in identifying the type of government that is best suited for our country.

The Philippines adopted a democratic form of government which would mean

beaureucracies, interest groups, Non-governmental Organizations, among others. An

evaluation of the status of the country in terms of the Five (5) crises in nation-building:
the Identity crisis; Legitimacy; Penetration crisis; Participation, and; Distribution crisis.

These crises, except Distribution crisis, are pointed out in the arguments of Secretary Jose

T. Almonte in his speech for the Issues Forum last 22 July 1993. Generally speaking, all

his arguments are valid, in fact, they are agreeable arguments and personally speaking, I

did not have a slight critical spirit against his arguments. His first two arguments which

deal with the identity crisis of our country, where he talks about our lack of national

unity, sense of nationalism and independence. The first step in nation-building is to clear

the identity crisis. It is true that the geography of our country is very unfavorable in terms

of acquiring social integrity among ourselves. Without a unifying factor, we cannot move

forward due to lack of objectivity in intentions. We have to have a mission vision which

is clear to everybody that will serve as the universal essence of each activity or plan. It is

true that the Filipinos have a colonial mentality which prevents us from identifying

ourselves with our own culture. Well, this is not our fault if this happened since we have

undergone a series of colonization by different cultures that somehow we have acquired

much from everything. The identity of the Filipino right now is the fact that we do not

have a defined identity. (We also have several mentalities that are easily connected to us

although they are negative traits.) In order for us to advance one step towards nation-

building is to have a sense of unity because we cannot go on with our own ways.

The third, fourth, fifth and eighth arguments tackle the legitimacy of the

governing head of our country; the effectiveness of our government and the adaptation of

the proper system of governance. Here he pointed out the ineffectiveness of having an

authoritarian government. (Actually, authoritarian rule should not be applied in any

country whether for desperate measures or not.) We need a government which we can
trust to save us out from the pool of problems. We cannot have a faltering government

system which is inconsistent in their decisions or fickle-minded. Only when we can say

that the country is stable if the governing body itself is stable. We cannot adopt a

government which is extreme: dictatorship or too democratic. We have to find the virtue

between these two extremes. Four years ago Sec. Almonte mentioned the presence of

political conflicts in our country. But now, it seems to me that the powers and duties are

properly distributed among the government members that there are no overlapping of

duties and jobs.

The sixth argument involves the level of penetration among the elite class in

talking them into a concern for the development of our society, which is evident in the

graft and corruption occurring in our country. Sec. Almonte also points out the priorities

of the elite class which is family and self-interest over loyalty to the nation. According to

reports stated in the speech of Almonte, “15% of all families accounts for 52.5% of all

the national income.” If the government cannot get the support of this 15%, half of the

nation’s income will be lessened, and we would not be able to move forward in this

world where money is a great commodity. Thus, this should concern the government in

getting the trust of the elites in terms of getting their support.

The seventh argument talks about the amount of participation needed in nation-

building and the necessary cooperation among the members of the society in terms of

economic development: a sense of unity in goals. Teamwork has always been proven

effective when doing small school projects. Each entity should work hand in hand in

reaching a common goal which in this case is economic development. Good results
should be derived from good works. So if you want to have a good economy, then you

should also use good means and cooperation despite cultural differences will be effective.

These arguments were still mentioned four years ago. So have we overcome these

crises, and have we reached already a high level of nationhood in our country? To answer

this question, we have to see if the arguments presented by Sec. Almonte do not hold true

for our country anymore.

Identity Crisis Have we, Filipinos, identified ourselves with our country? Have

we acquired already a nationalistic attitude within us? With the way things are going

now, I can say that we, or at least some of us, have increased our concern in national

development. President Fidel Ramos promoted this move by campaigning for the

Philippines 2000. With this nationalistic plan for the Philippines, corporations and other

entities have supported the Philippines 2000 through the development of technology and

our exposure to it has increased which have raised the level of living in the city. The

concern for the economic status of our country has increased at its own pace with which

we can handle. Even only at the small details of having ESD or Electronic Shopper’s

Directory in almost every mall there is, is already a sign of advancement. The

development of the public highways for easy transportation which can help ease the

traffic a bit is a sign of progress and concern. It is evident that the corporations

themselves have helped in the development of our country. We can see this when we

notice that the signs along the road include a print of a product brand name (for instance,

Happee®, or Zest-O®, or Kumho® Tires). Happee products and Zest-O products are

proudly Philippine-made. Here we can see the cooperation of local entities for the

development of our country by supporting them financially. More than the reason
probably for the publicity of their brand name, but for the benefit of our country. There

are also other products that have seals saying “Proudly Philippine-Made.” This just

shows the growing identification of local products to their own country. We are on our

way in achieving our own identity. With the rate of our development, one can say that we

are going to attain our identity and overcome this crisis. But if we look at each

individuals in our society, it seems that the youth are becoming more identified with the

Western world rather than their own nation. This is due to the distinct colonial mentality

that we have acquired throughout the years. It seems to me that our national identity is

that we are maka-Western.

Legitimacy. During the Marcos administration, the Filipino nation has lost its trust

on the government: a number of coup d’etats were attempted, rebellions and protests.

Even during the following Aquino administration, people were still unsure of the

goodness that the former president will do. But according to some readings that I have

acquired during my Pol 31 days, the Aquino administration has paved the way for the

success that the Ramos regime is experiencing. (During the last years of the Aquino

administration, rebellion attempts and the rebels themselves were halved of the number

they were during 1986.) Now, the President is enjoying the legitimacy of his power

among the people; the Filipinos today have a greater sense of duty in following the

guidelines set by the authority especially since the Ramos administration proposes an

agenda which is market-oriented.1 His legitimacy is evident in the recent peso

depreciation issue. His decision on how to stabilize the peso value, worked out well. This

increases further the people’s trust on the President. I overheard somebody saying that

“the government is so stable that anyone can take over as president.”

 Penetration. As I have mentioned earlier, the Ramos administration has gained

the support of the elite class by convincing them to help out in various projects. Although

the government has not succeeded in penetrating to all elite classes, but this is already an

accomplishment.

Participation. This can be seen in economic concerns. One of Almonte’s

proposals is to remove the cartels and monopolies in our country by inviting foreign

investors. This will provide our country an environment of competition. Competence will

help increase our standards in the products that we make. High standards in products

would mean high standards in living among Filipino families. Competition will also

ignite the local entities to work together in asserting Philippine competitiveness, thus,

will also increase the identity of the Filipino nation as very competitive and has high

standards of living. This will prevent the foreign countries in looking at us as one of the

third-world countries. Another example would be the drive of Manila Mayor Alfredo

Lim’s drive against the use of prohibited drugs. This has become very popular that

participation of other provinces and towns like Caloocan, Batangas, and Vigan, have

developed their own drive against prohibited drugs.

Distribution. This crisis, in my point of view, has not been settled very well. The

president always reasons out that the country has to eradicate poverty by controlling

population because there is not much wealth and resources available for everyone. If the

government teaches the ethical way in controlling pregnancy among the poor, then it is

fine, but if it will involve the promotion of the use of contraceptives, then it is already

utilitarian and materialistic in nature because then, man has become merely a unit to be

fed together with the other units of our country. There may be a proper distribution in

1
Parreñas, Julius Caesar. “The Philippines in the Next Six Years,” 1994, pp. 51-57
power, but in resources and wealth, there seems to be no proper distribution. We have to

realize the fact that we have unlimited resources; it is just a matter of distributing them

properly and to reproduce them the right way. We have to remember that the government

is there to serve the people and not the people to serve the plans of the government. If the

government wants to help the people, then it should not use the people. An article in a

newspaper mentioned that “the President said the Philippines’ open society and highly-

developed human resources make the country a viable headquarters of multi-national

corporation in information technology and knowledge-based industries.” If we have

highly-developed human resources, then why do we have to cut down on our population?

After looking at the 5 crises in nation-building, we can say that we are close to

reaching the end point in this journey. We have satisfied the first four levels in nation-

building except for the last crisis wherein we are still in crisis.

With a person like Sec. Jose T. Almonte to propose attainable solutions for our

country, we keep the dream of nation-building, paradoxically speaking, on the ground.

He mentioned that “[reformation] will hurt”; if you want to be cured of a tumor, you have

to undergo a painful operation before you can start working properly again. We were

coined as the “Sick Man of Asia.” And if you want our sick country to get well, we have

to undergo ourselves with painful solutions and prescriptions. We have a geographical

unfavorableness and we are having a hard time acquiring a sense of unity. The solution

for this is to have a common mission vision implemented in all the 7,107 islands of our

country. This will keep us united with the plans of the president who is in Malacañang

Palace; to be united with the same intentions of the head. It is easier to link one lego®

block to another lego® block than to connect a lego® block to a duplo® block. Another
prescription to maintain the health of our country is to start with ourselves. Each should

try to educate oneself to keep an objective view of the world, thus, forgetting about

personal interests and pragmatic concerns. To be selfish is to be subjective; to be

subjective would lead to many fallacious answers; thus we should strive to form an

objective concern for our country is we want it to move forward and not get stuck with

personal concerns.