Filipino political culture scrutinized in forum

"In 1994, municipal nurseries were reported to have a total project expense of P500,000. The cost covered only structural building, since structures were built on land donated by the beneficiary local government unit (LGU) as equity. Yet if one closely looks at the structures, which are largely made of coco lumber and nipa sheets, he or she will find that the nursery could not have cost more than P5,000.

This telling revelation surfaced in the public lecture and forum dubbed "Pinoy Political Culture: View from the Inside" conducted yesterday by the Philippine Governance Forum. The PGF, a collaborative project of the Ateneo School of Government (ASG), the Ateneo Center for Social Policy and Public Affairs (ACSPPA), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), embarked on a one-year research project last year to study more closely how traditional Philippine political culture is manifested in the various government bodies, especially in business deals and money-based transactions with the government.

The PGF commissioned Dr. Cristina Jayme-Montiel, noted political psychologist and lead researcher of the project, former Eastern Samar governor Lutgardo Barbo, and Rep. Nereus Acosta of the First District of Bukidnon.

Montiel, senior fellow of the ACSPPA, defined "Filipino political culture" as one that covers all thoughts and feelings, material symbols, group-accepted practices which are shared by large pluralties of interacting Filipinos, as they produce, allocate and use political powers within, outside, and in interaction with the state."

These attributes are manifested in traditional Filipino electoral, political and governance where it is characterized as a "system of campaigning and governance that honors and thrives on money and personal relationships. "Philippine political culture is manifested in the various government bodies, especially in business deals and money-based transactions with the government. Patronage politics is in essence a money-based system of politics where governance is not measured in terms of how well a public official performs his or her mandated responsibilities but on how much money he or she can give in response to personal requests," Montiel explained.

She pointed out that a politician, once elected into office, is expected to be a patron, accommodating special favors to provide jobs, contracts, recommendations for a few, among other expectations.

The personalities orientation of Filipino political culture manifests itself in how personal relationships often take precedence over political principles or issues of governance. Family friends, kumpadres, kababayans, padrinos and virtually any imaginable personal connection or influence and dictate upon political practices and decision-making.

Acosta admited that "the world of alternative politics is terra incognita, in many ways, uncharted territory. There are too many variables to grapple with because of change, or the desire for such, requires a reinvention of old ideas and an overhaul of bad habits."

He lamented that "political parties, in the conventional definitions of any political science textbook, are largely non-existent. What we have here are approximations of political parties, a veneer of platforms and agendas over the rought-and-tumble of electoral ambitions."

The researchers, however, believe that alternative or progressive politics can and has been done. Progressive politicians have tried to instill changes in the political culture in their own small ways by training people not go to the politician’s house, initiating programs that inform and teach people of livelihood opportunities, and working with institutions that can change the culture of dependence and helplessness.