Letter to the Editor – Democracy in the Philippines

Fundamentally a democracy is a form of government that allows a substantial number of the citizenry to participate directly or indirectly in ruling the state. In the indirect form the citizens elect individuals to represent them in the running of the government, i.e., a representative democracy; which is typical of most modern democracies. Democracy, as essentially understood in the Western world, allows citizens to be sufficiently free in speech and assembly to form competing political parties and that the voters be able to choose among the candidates of these parties in regularly held elections.

Democracy is very distinct from governments controlled by a particular social class or group, such as, Aristocracy or Oligarchy. Although the Philippines has a form of democracy it is tainted with certain aspects of Aristocracy and Oligarchy: Aristocracy can be defined in terms of the modern world to mean rule by any privileged group that is superior in wealth, power, or intellect and is able to pass these on to successive generations. Oligarchy relates to those in which political power is based on birth and those in which power is held by a small clique. This helps to explain how the wealthy and well born dominate congress. It also gives insight as to why there is rampant corruption at all levels of the government - money must come from somewhere to insure election or reelection.

Democracies are not an inexpensive form of government to establish or even to maintain. They require two sets of rulers: One to govern and another to take over when the first ruler loses an election. Democracy also demands almost universal literacy, which is also expensive. Perhaps the worst enemy of democracy is that politicians are under constant pressure from special interest groups to support particular public policies, or to repay an individual or group by appointment to specific government positions.

That is like putting the fox in the chicken house. The sum of those political payback favors can become more than the society can afford. Example, taxes are increased, etc in order to generate the funds necessary to cover political debts generated by elected officials.

What about the two sets of rulers? It means that there must be competitive political parties. Political parties are groups of people that come together to obtain political power. That is, to gain control of the government or to at least influence government policies. Competitive political parties are regarded as indispensable to the proper functioning of a democratic society. In general terms political parties can be categorized in terms of two forms of party structure: Cadre parties, such as the political parties in Canada and the United States; and mass-membership parties, such as the Communist party in China and the Labour Party in Great Britain. In the Philippines a strong two-party system does not exist.

There are nearly as many political parties as there are candidates. As such there are many "under-the-table" deals made for personal gain at the expense of doing what is correct for the country, i.e., the people. Under a parliamentary type system the "under-the-table" deals would be government under certain conditions.

It is not a desirable form of government for the Philippines because of the cultural attitude of Filipinos. The current political system of the Philippines is quite good. It does need some fine-tuning but that is natural in any political system. To start with Filipino voters must remove from power the political "clans" and "dynasties" that have been in power for nearly 100 years. You might be surprised to learn about the Aquino dynasty and the families that actually control the Congress, etc. If you want to know details I suggest you read "The Rulemakers" ISBN 971-8686-38-X.

Cliff Sheppard
BF Homes
Abuno, Pajac
Fifth Street, Block 5, Lot 24
Lapu-Lapu City 6015
Mactan, Cebu