These ten images encompass political reality and practices

- These frameworks are to be used for analyzing political dynamics and the policy processes in the context of
Philippine political system that is reflective of the highly elastic nature of Philippine democracy. Which run the
gamut from highly private to highly public decision making?

10 images of politics
1.) Board-room politics
Involves decision-making by business elites and professionals, but with important public consequences.
2.) Bureaucratic politics
Means rule making and adjudication by bureaucrats, with inputs from clients and professionals, Dept.
Secretaries, U. secretaries, A. secretaries, regional directors, bureau directors, are power and authority
holders and as such can make decisions favoring private businesses and favored political interests. This is
the reason why politicians and some businessman jockey their men into positions in the bureaucracy.
3.) Congress politics
Involves policy making by legislatures, constrained by various constituencies. Laws affect private and
public interests. The process of legislation in formulating policies can delay the passage of a bill or the
proposed bill can be stopped at the committee hearing level.
4.) Chief executive politics (CEOs)
Refers to a process dominated by president governors mayors and their advisers. Chief executives are
given full power and authority to lead, to govern and administer laws. They possess and exercise
discretionary powers that are beneficial to majority but detrimental to some few. When they talk
everybody listens.
5.) Court-room politics
Refers to court orders and decisions of judges, justices, and prosecutors in response to interest groups and
aggrieved individuals. When judicial decisions are sold or influenced based not on merits and evidences,
and then the court would have served no purpose as balancer and equalizer of justice and settlement of
disputes between and among litigants.
Court decisions can put political opponents to jail, can delay political and non-political appointments, can
delay the execution of legislative, executive and administrative decisions or even stop the operation of
businesses, and can decide to reverse or delay decisions previously made. The issuance of TRO reveals
how political our court.
6.) Multimedia politics
The galvanization of public opinion, usually through the news papers, radio, television and other forms of
mass media. All of this mass media promote the political interests and choices of those who own them,
who pay them and who use them. Media can make and unmake a president or a leader.
7.) Religious politics
Is one where decisions are made by leaders and members of religious groups and have political
implications like El shaddai, JIL, INC, CBCP, NCCP are some of the most prominent religious groups which
take political positions on public issues.
8.) Military politics (games of the generals)
Involves the calculated decisions of the military and police generals and their subordinates to affect
preferences in the political arena. The decisions and machinations of military generals were the key
factors that changed government and government leaders.
9.) Civil society politics (NGOs, POs)
is the high profile socio political engagement and proactive lobbying of voluntary groups such as NGOs,
POs, socio-civic societies, cause-oriented groups, professional associations, cooperatives, sectoral or
social class groupings and foundations that influence political issues.
10.) X-men politics (gambling lords)
Includes factors and players that are less prominently mentioned, less openly named, less publicly
involved but actively engaged in fixing and managing self-serving political decisions.
Examples are: drug lords, Gambling lords, vice lords, who supports the career of politicians and
bureaucrats who in return provide protection to syndicated crimes.