PORTFOLIO ON

PHILIPPINE POLITICS
AND GOVERNANCE
1ST QUARTER, 1ST SEMESTER
S.Y. 2019-2020

Name: John Russel P. Alcido

Teacher: Mr. Jonathan V. Manalaysay

 PORTFOLIO ON
PHILIPPINE POLITICS
AND GOVERNANCE
1ST QUARTER, 1ST SEMESTER
S.Y. 2019-2020

Name: John Russel P. Alcido

Teacher: Mr. Jonathan Manalaysay

I. CONCEPT/CONTEXT

A. CONCEPT

Concept is something conceived in the mind and an abstract

generalized from particular instances . These are the ideas and words that
comes first in our mind, and the concepts of politics are;

 Politicians
When we talk about politics, politicians would be one of the ideas we
first think of because its root word is politics. One would assume that it is
related to politics. Indeed, politicians are one of the important components
of politics because they are the main actor or character here. Positions
range from local offices to executive, legislative, and judicial offices of
regional and national governments. Specificifically, the politicians from the
legislative branch which are the twenty-four Senators of the Senate and
20 percent of whom must be the Party-list representatives because they
are the politicians who’s main role is to spend more time in making
agreements and pasing laws for the betterment of the country.

 Democracy
No matter what form of government a country has, politics is always
involved. And in our country, we have a democratic form of government
and one would easily think that democracy is related to politics.
Democracy is a political system based on representative government,
citizen participation in political process, freedom of citizens, transparency
of political acts and process in general.

 Political Participation/Public Opinion

Political participation affords citizens in a democracy an oppurtunity to
communicate information to government officials about their concerns and
preferences and to put pressure on them to respond. In any democratic
system, citizens have the right to express their views and attitudes
towards almost everything happening in the publicsphere or concerning
their own interests in a way that governmental officials know this and
respond. There is quite a wide of activities on political participation and it
includes the following types;
1. Voting
2. Working in and contributing to electoral campaigns and
organizations
3. Contacting government
4. Attending protests, marches or demonstrations
5. Working informally with the others to solve some community
problem
6. Serving without pay on local elected and appointed boards
7. Being active politically through the intermediation of voluntary
associations.

 Political Decision Making

Politics exists for the good of the country so right and careful decision
making is crucial because every choices affects the country. Political
decision-making is when a country’s political parties, leaders or leadership
compare and select implementing principles and approaches and means
to achieve the target in political practical activities for the purpose,
principles and direction of activities.The process of political decision-
making is a dynamic political process that is related to the formation and
implementation of major and general decisions of the national, political
and social interest groups. Political decision-making is affected by the
level of citizen participation. Effective domestic political participation can
provide sufficient information regarding political decision-making of the
decision-making group and will contribute to the effective integration of the
various interests into the public interest. Because the interests of society
and the people are of a wide range, it is somehow difficult for the ruling
party to obtain accurate information about public interest, which brings
difficulty for the development of policies on behalf of the interests of the
majority of people. This requires the ruling party to provide a wide variety
of participation and expression platforms for expression of interest so that
members of the community can make recommendations for their own
problems to provide references for the decision-making group.

 Law

Law is a system of rules that are created and enforced through social
or governmental institutions to regulate behavior. It has been defined both
as "the Science of Justice" and "the Art of Justice". Law is a system that
regulates and ensures that individuals or a community adhere to the will of
the state. State-enforced laws can be made by a collective legislature or
by a single legislator, resulting in statutes, by the executive through
decrees and regulations, or established by judges through precedent,
normally in common law jurisdictions.
Private individuals can create legally binding contracts, including
arbitration agreements that may elect to accept alternative arbitration to
the normal court process. The formation of laws themselves may be
influenced by a constitution, written or tacit, and the rights encoded
therein. The law shapes politics, economics, history and society in various
ways and serves as a mediator of relations between people.
A great deal has been written on the relationship between politics and
law. Legislation, as a source of law, is often highly political, and is the
product of a process or the creation of officials often closely bound into
party politics. Legislation is also one of the exclusive powers of the state.
As such, legislation is plainly both practical and inevitably political; at the
same time most understandings of the relationship between law and
politics have been overwhelmingly theoretical. In this light, public law is
often seen as part of the political order or as inescapably partisan. We
know relatively little about the real impact of law on politicians through
their legal advisers and civil servants. How do lawyers in government see
their roles and what use do they make of law? How does politics actually
affect the drafting of legislation or the making of policy?
This volume will begin to answer these and other questions about the
practical, day-to-day relationship between law and politics in a number of
settings. It includes chapters by former departmental legal advisers,
drafters of legislation, law reformers, judges and academics, who focus on
what actually happens when law meets politics in government.
The law functions in relation to politics in three basic aspects, namely
as a goal, a means, or an obstacle.
First, politics can define certain predominantly legal values or
institutions as its goal. In this case the political understanding of these
values or institutions becomes almost identical to an authentic legal
understanding of the same values or institutions.
Second, politics can comprehend the law merely as a means for the
fulfillment of certain political interests. In this case politics is neutral in its
attitude toward the law.
Finally, politics can interpret law as an obstacle on the way toward the
realization of certain political goals. In this situation either politics prevails
over law, or vice versa.

B.CONTEXT

To further understand the whole idea of politics, these are some of

informations that we have to know;

 What is the origin of politics?

• In the 1520s politics meant ‘science of government’
• It was based the name of Aristotle’s book on governing and
governments - ta politika, literally ‘affairs of state’. The book was also
known in English as Polettiques (Usually -ics is added to denote a science
or discipline).
• The adjective politic comes from the Middle French politique (14th
century), which comes from the Latin politicus ‘of citizens or the state’.
We’re still nowhere near actually breaking the word down to components.
• The Latin word comes from the Greek politikos ‘of citizens,
pertaining to public life’.
• The Greek word comes from polites meaning ‘citizen’. Finally a
breakdown!
• The Greek word for city or city-state is polis.
• The ultimate root word I can find is pele- from the the Proto-Indo-
European Language meaning ‘citadel, or enclosed space on high ground’.
This makes it a common ancestor for the Sanskrit word for city - puram.

 Order, Power, Justice

Politics is the way in which we understand and order our social

affairs, an acquire greater control over the situation. It is also the strategy
for maintaining cooperation among people with different needs and ideals
in life, or for resolving the conflict within the group, whether this is a family,
a tribe, a village or a nation-state.

1.) Order
Study of politics seeks to study how human life in the aggregate is
ordered.

i. Community – one kind of social order which is an association of

individuals who share a common identity. This identity is usually defined
by geography, sense of common purpose, and a single political allegiance.
It arises to fulfill a wide variety of social functions (such as physical
security, economic prosperity, cultural enrichment) that cannot be met by
individuals

defined by geography, sense of common purpose, and a single

political allegiance. It arises to fulfill a wide variety of social functions (such
as physical security, economic prosperity, cultural enrichment) that cannot
be met by individuals acting on their own.

ii. Government – a political order that maintains and perpetuates

 the community. It is said to possess “sovereignty” if it can successfully
assert its claim to rule. And it is said to “legitimate” if its claim to rule
(authority) is willingly accepted.

iii. Nation-state – most distinctive and largest self-sufficient

political configuration in the modern world… its actions and reactions
affect not only the welfare and destiny of its own people but,
increasingly, the fate of peoples in other lands.

2.) Power
The government cannot maintain order w/o power.
i. There are many sources of power aside from physical force.
Ex. Wealth, eloquent oratory, vigilant secret police, cunning
ii. The more abundant the power source, the greater the capabilities
of the government.
iii. Who rules? In accordance with the law, or is it the just or the
moral?

3.) Justice
When the power is exercised in the interest of the ruled, there is
justice.

Aristotle (384-322 BC)

“Human beings use reason and language to declare what is just and
unjust. Therefore it is the peculiarity of man, in comparison with the rest of
the animal world, that he alone possesses a perception of the good and
evil. Human faculties make moral judgment and therefore also political
discussion. “

 Politics in the Philippines

Politics in the Philippines has traditionally been dominated by clans

and political bosses and patronage and is characterized by law makers
that make decisions based on fiscal incentives rather that beliefs and
voters that make choices based on personality rather than reasoned
policies. Under the traditional itang na loob system of patronage, or
obligation earned through favors, voters expect money or jobs in return for
their political support. In many cases politician’s performance was based
on dole-outs not on programs or policies. Philippine concepts about debt
repayment and kinship responsibilities plays a major role in how political
networks are set up and run.

Personalities are more important than parties in Philippine politics.

Movie stars and other celebrities have enjoyed considerable success. In
addition1, several prominent families play a disproportionate role in
politics. The support of the military and the Catholic church are key to
political survival and success in the Philippines. Promises are generally
not kept. Arroyo, for example, pledged to bring cheap power to the poor as
a campaign pledge and then doubled power rates after she was elected.
She also promised not to run for a second time but changed her mind
because she said God made her decide to run.

The Philippines is known for its rough-and-tumble political scene.

Politicians are rountinely killed and sometimes they even do the do the
killing themselves. Every now and then it seems the entire country is on
the verge of collapse because of a coup attempt, People Power protest or
impeachment effort. On the day-to-day level, politicians are unable to
achieve many of their goals and carry out programs they proposed due to
political opposition, mainly from the ruling elite. Arroyo and her cabinet
said that political fighting and sniping exhausted and frustrated them
deeply.

One basic corollary in a presidential system of government is the

principle of separation of powers wherein legislation belongs to Congress,
execution to the Executive, and settlement of legal controversies to the
Judiciary;

 The Legislative branch is authorized to make laws, alter, and

repeal them through the power vested in the Philippine Congress. This
institution is divided into the Senate and the House of Representatives.

 The Executive branch carries out laws. It is composed of the

President and the Vice President who are elected by direct popular
vote and serve a term of six years. The Constitution grants the
President authority to appoint his Cabinet. These departments form a
large portion of the country’s bureaucracy.

 The Judicial branch evaluates laws. It holds the power to settle

 controversies involving rights that are legally demandable and
enforceable. This branch determines whether or not there has been a
grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction
on the part and instrumentality of the government. It is made up of a
Supreme Court and lower courts.

 Importance of Politics
Politics is part of our everyday lives. Politics is all about the way
human beings are governed, which involves order, power, and justice. It is
not just an abstract study. It involves the government’s day-to-day
performance. It does not affect only one individual, but is inextricably
bound up with the perpetual quest for what is fair or just in light of the
interest of the entire community. Issue is more or less political based on
the extent that the use of political power affects the lives and well-being of
private citizens. An issue becomes political when the government must
render a decision, which must always be for the common good of the
community.
Its purpose is to enable the members of a society to collectively
achieve important human goals they cannot otherwise achieve
individually. Through negotiation, debate, legislation and other political
structures, politics procures safety, order and general welfare within the
state.
II. DEFINITION OF TERMS

 Politics is the Science of Society, the Psychology of Statecraft and the

Process of Polity. Politics is the very system with which people rule
over entire societies. It is the way that people living in groups make
decisions and about taking agreeements between people so they can
live together in groups such as tribes, cities, or countries.

 Politician is someone who participates in how the the country is run.

He/she is normally part of a political party, or an person holding
seeking office in government. They propose, support and create laws
or policies that govern the land and, by extension, its people.

 Democracy is the belief in freedom and equality between people, or a

system of government based on this belief, in which power is either
held by elected representive or directly by the people themselves. It is
commonly referred as the “rule of the majority”

 Legislative branch is authorized to make laws, alter, and repeal them

through the power vested in the Philippine Congress. This institution is
divided into the Senate and House of the Representatives.

 Congress of the Philippines is the national legislature of the

Philippines. It is a bicameral body consisting of Senate (upper
chamber) and the House of Respresentatives (lower chamber),
although coloquially, the term “congress” commonly refers to just the
latter.

 Political Party is an organized group of people who have the same

ideology, or who otherwise have the same political positions, and who
field candidates for elections in an attempt to get them elected and
thereby implement the party’s agenda.
III. SUMMARIZATION

To summarize it all,politics is the way people living in a group make

decisions.Its pupose is to enable the members of a society to collectively
achieve important human goals they cannot otherwise achieve
individually. The concepts of politics are the politicians,or the legislative
branch who spend their time making agreements. With the help of public
opion, debates,and sharing of ideas,they were able to choose the best
solution or decision in every issues or problems that they were facing, and
also to maintain the peacefulness of the country. While in otherwords, the
happenings inside the politics, the political system best defines the
process for making official government decisions and actions.It is
composed of the members of a social organization or group who are in
power and it is usually compared to the legal system, economic system,
cultural system, and other social systems.
However, this is a very simplified view of a much more complex
system of categories involving the questions of who should have authority
and what the government influence on its people and economy. So why
politics is important to a country?.It’s because every society needs politics.
Politics is just how we do things. How people work together to make things
right and to do things right. And to debate over societal issues, usually
when it comes to governing and laws, although a big part is social policy
and how we as a society should deal with issues. All in all, politics is the
process of all aspects that is being discussed or talk about for the
betterment of a certain country.It is also a concept in which theoretically
regarded as a way of the government makes a policy and also to make
them more organized in their administration.
IV. CURRENT ISSUES

 Sinking of Filipino boat in West PH Sea by Chinese ship

　 The sinking of a Filipino fishing boat by a Chinese ship is 'a quantum
escalation of China's aggressive acts against the Philippines in the West
Philippine Sea'MANILA, Philippines.
It is a first in the decades-long dispute between Manila and Beijing
over the West Philippine Sea. The sinking of Filipino Fishing Boat Gem-
Ver by Chinese ship Yuemaobinyu 42212 is, in the words of a Supreme
Court justice, "a quantum escalation of China’s aggressive acts against
the Philippines in the West Philippine Sea." This is also the most heated
issue in the disputed waters since the 2012 standoff between Philippine
and Chinese vessels in Panatag Shoal (Scarborough Shoal), which
prompted Manila to file a case against Beijing.
Out of nowhere, Chinese ship Yuemaobinyu 42212 rams the back of
Gem-Ver. This leaves a hole that causes the boat to sink from the rear.
Fishermen run to the bow or front of the ship. Yuemaobinyu 42212 returns
to the wreckage to flash its light on the wreckage. Then, the Chinese
vessel turns off its lights, speeds off, and never returns. The boat's cook,
Richard Blaza, says he woke up his fellow crewmen before the Chinese
boat hit them. (Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio,
one of the staunchest defenders of the West Philippine Sea, later says it is
"highly likely that a Chinese maritime militia vessel rammed" the Filipino
boatAdvertisement June 10, 2019 'Vietnam? Philippines? Friends.' The
Chinese ship leaves the Filipinos floating in the middle of the sea, in the
cold of night — "tired, hungry, and cold."
At around 1 am, Gem-Ver crewmen spot a light from afar, their only
hope for survival. The boat's captain Junel Insigne orders two of his men,
JP Gordiones and Justine Pascual, to row to the light. They salvage and
use two small boats that had been attached to Gem-Ver. Two hours later,
at around 3 am, Gordiones and Pascual reach the boat, seeing it is a
Vietnamese fishing vessel. They shout for help, and are pulled aboard.
There, Pascual says, "Vietnam? Philippines? Friends." They then lead the
10 Vietnamese fishermen to the wreckage site, arriving around an hour
after to rescue the Filipino crew who have already been floating for hours.
The 10 fishermen from the Vietnamese province of Tien Giang "took them
to their boat and fed them rice and instant noodles, and helped them get
warm after many hours of struggling in the sea for their lives,". At around 4
am, Gem-Ver captain Insigne radios boats in the Philippines for help using
the Vietnamese boat’s equipment.

 Oil Price Hike

High oil prices are caused by high demand and low supply. Low supply
occurs when war or natural disasters curtail exports from oil-producing
countries. Traders often bid up prices when they hear of impending
disasters or the threat of war. Oil prices decline once production resumes.
Basically,high price on oil production becomes an issue because the
consumers can’t afford the price that given,but they still need the product
despite of its high price.And oil is one of the most needed product in our
society specially in terms of transportation. It is likely that both increases in
demand and fears of supply disruptions have exerted upward pressure on
oil prices. Global demand for oil has been increasing, outpacing any gains
in oil production and excess capacity. A large reason is that developing
nations, especially China and India, have been growing rapidly. These
economies have become increasingly industrialized and urbanized, which
has contributed to an increase in the world demand for oil. In addition, in
recent years fears of supply disruptions have been spurred by turmoil in
oil-producing countries (Brown 2006). The breathtakingly sharp increase
in the price of oil in the last half of 2007 and first half of 2008 has led many
to argue that increased speculation in commodity markets has played a
role, and indeed there is evidence of increased activity in these markets.
However, whether speculation is playing a role in high oil prices is
open to debate (Krugman 2008). It is also useful to remember that both
the demand for and the supply of oil react sluggishly to changes in prices
in the short run, so very large changes in prices can be required to restore
equilibrium if demand should move even modestly out of line with supply.
As far as the implications of higher oil prices, there are both
microeconomic and macroeconomic answers to that question. I will
address both of these aspects in turn. How do high oil prices affect the
economy on a “micro” level? As a consumer, you may already understand
the microeconomic implications of higher oil prices. When observing
higher oil prices, most of us are likely to think about the price of gasoline
as well, since gasoline purchases are necessary for most households.
When gasoline prices increase, a larger share of households’ budgets is
likely to be spent on it, which leaves less to spend on other goods and
services. The same goes for businesses whose goods must be shipped
from place to place or that use fuel as a major input (such as the airline
industry).
Higher oil prices tend to make production more expensive for
businesses, just as they make it more expensive for households to do the
things they normally do. It turns out that oil and gasoline prices are indeed
very closely related. Moreover, the monthly changes in oil prices and
gasoline prices (not shown) also are very highly and positively correlated.
So, when oil prices spike, you can expect gasoline prices to spike as well,
and that affects the costs faced by the vast majority of households and
businesses.
What effects do oil prices have on the “macro” economy? It is
explained how oil prices affect households and businesses; it is not a far
leap to understand how oil prices affect the macroeconomy. Oil price
increases are generally thought to increase inflation and reduce economic
growth. In terms of inflation, oil prices directly affect the prices of goods
made with petroleum products. As mentioned above, oil prices indirectly
affect costs such as transportation, manufacturing, and heating. The
increase in these costs can in turn affect the prices of a variety of goods
and services, as producers may pass production costs on to consumers.
The extent to which oil price increases lead to consumption price
increases depends on how important oil is for the production of a given
type of good or service. Oil price increases can also stifle the growth of the
economy through their effect on the supply and demand for goods other
than oil. Increases in oil prices can depress the supply of other goods
because they increase the costs of producing them. In economics
terminology, high oil prices can shift up the supply curve for the goods and
services for which oil is an input. High oil prices also can reduce demand
for other goods because they reduce wealth, as well as induce uncertainty
about the future (Sill 2007). One way to analyze the effects of higher oil
prices is to think about the higher prices as a tax on consumers (Fernald
and Trehan 2005). The simplest example occurs in the case of imported
oil.
V. RECOMMENDATION

Politics in our country has been controlled and dominated by the clans
and political bosses and characterized by the people who create laws, and
make decisions based on the fiscal incentives.Preferably beliefs and
voters that make their own choices based on personality rather than
reasoned policies.They only focused on the popularity than the good
things that they did. So that’s why our country didn’t progress very well in
the hand of the past administration.
As a group,we highly recommended for the people nowadays,basically
for everyone that they should be more attentive in every movement and
action of a person that is involved in the politics and also we pointed out
that discussions on charter change or reforms in the Constitution often
revolve around the issue of term limits. But another way of looking at it is
to consider it an opportunity to improve political representation.
We strongly agree to the Arugay’s proposed statement regarding to how
we can improve the Philippine democracy that is basically related to the
politics.In which for the legislative branch, Arugay proposed reassessing
the value of the Senate. He noted that a second chamber's role was
always to temper the power of the lower house. The Senate's power can
be changed or limited so it does not have the same or equal powers as
the House of Representatives.And To allow more access to participative
governance, the restrictions on campaign finance should be spelled out in
the Constitution. Initiatives for citizens to directly participate in public policy
should also be encouraged,democracy seems to be collectively exercised
only during elections. But the public, should be given the chance to
collectively propose certain bills through direct democracy mechanisms.As
we reviewed his proposed statement,we got he’s point on how we can
improved our country’s political system,so that why we’re in his side and
recommending all his statement for everyone.
VI. REFERENCE

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-origin-of-word-politics-What-is-its-definition

https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/law-in-politics-politics-in-law-
9781782252832/

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGRV_enPH751PH751&ei=J6NGXaua

FOaHk74P1bGEqAs&q=purpose+of+politics&oq=purpose+of+politics

https://pia.gov.ph/branches-of-govt

https://tamayaosbc.wordpress.com/2010/11/19/basic-concepts-in-politics/

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/about/gov/the-legislative-branch/b

http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/culturaldiplomacynews/participant-papers/

http://www.cscanada.net/index.php/ccc/artic

https://www.rappler.com/nation/122996-philippine-democracy-quality-
participation
http://factsanddetails.com/southeast-asia/Philippines/sub5_6f/entry-3904.html

https://pia.gov.ph/branches-of-govt