After Populism: Winning

the ‘War’ for bourgeois

democracy in the
Philippines
 Continued Populist Potential in a Bourgeois
Polity

• Populism- the people are contrasted with the

elite who are privileged and greedy
– Involves direct media-carried appeals by leaders in
the form of promises to help the common tao

• Masa Politics – rich-versus-poor theme in

politics
• Populism and Clientelism sometimes overlap

Clientelism Populism

- Indirect ties - Direct media

between national VS transported
leaders and voters appeals
via local leaders
- Dyadic ties with
voter clients
 Philippine Populist

Joseph Estrada and

Fernando Poe Jr.

Urban poor and

Business marginalized
Cronies rural population
 Lack of non-class
cleavages
Erosion of traditional
clientelism

Political Requisites Decentralization of patronage

for Populism after the fall of Marcos

Urbanization and the growing

importance of media

Decline of the left

Joseph Estrada: The Populist President

• Won over the masa (masses) with his appeal as an

ex-action star

• Direct appeal to the voters as defender of the poor

• Erap as the slang inversion of Pare

• “Erap para sa Mahirap”

 Estrada was discredited
Arroyo’s neo-
through his immoral behavior
Populism
- Huge illegal gambling
declined
traditionalism
industry
because…
• Gloria tried to act like a reformist in the
tradition of Tita Cory

• Dubbed herself as “Ate Glo” or Ina ng Bayan

• But none of these image makeovers worked

– Because of her popular disillusionment with her
commitment to reform
– Educational credentials and technocratic
style
• Winning elections without popularity is a clear
sign that indirect, dyadic relations have come
to dominate politics over direct voter appeals
by national leaders.
 Neo-traditionalism

• A political strategy that attempts to

recentralize clientelist networks through the
use of government patronage, military
intimidation and electoral manipulation.

• Revitalizing clientelism
 Arroyo’s Neo-traditionalism
• Choosing Noli de Castro as her vice-presidential
candidate

• “Encouraged” Panfilo Lacson to run for President

as well

• Arroyo cut out the political middlemen, funneling

government patronage funds directly to barangay
captains and mayors
• Claimed local connection in Visayas based on her
mother’s side of the family

• Arroyo generously rewarded her loyal generals

and allowed them to hunt down legal leftists

• Mastered the three Cs of Neo-traditional politics:

– Cinema
– Chinese
– Corruption
 Noynoy Aquino and the rise of
reformism
Filipinos suffered Death of Cory
Political
from people Aquino in
power fatigue capital
2009

Tyrannyphobia- new found

unwillingness to tolerate Noynoy
tyranny that burst its banks Phenomenon
with the death of Corazon
Aquino
 Populism Reformism

• involves direct media • involves direct media

appeals to poor voters appeals to poor voters
VS

• Asks for the votes of • Asks for support

the poor based on the because “I am (morally)
promise that “I will help good”
you”
• Populism becomes an attractive political
strategy only following the lack of economic
redistribution during a reformist government
which raises high expectations that it cannot
fulfill.
 2016 Presidential Candidates

GRACE POE
- Populism
- promised feeding
programs to help
poor schoolkids,
embraced
grandmothers, and
commiserated with
widows of a botched
police operation.
- “Gubyernong may
puso”

Webb, A., & Curato, N. C. (2018). Populism in the Philippines .

 2016 Presidential Candidates

JEJOMAR BINAY
- Populism
- embraced his identity as a
dark-skinned Filipino from
humble roots, dismissing
corruption allegations as a
ploy by the ruling elite to stop
a self-made man from
clinching power.
- - Binay is the ‘godfather’ who
pays the bills, attends funerals,
funds feeding programs, hugs
the elderly and cares for the
poor.

Webb, A., & Curato, N. C. (2018). Populism in the Philippines .

 2016 Presidential Candidates

MIRIAM DEFENSOR SANTIAGO

- Populist
- Si Miriam Ang Sagot!
 2016 Presidential Candidates

MANUEL ROXAS II
- Reformist
- “Tuwid na Daan”
- All work, no drama was his
campaign message

Webb, A., & Curato, N. C. (2018). Populism in the Philippines .

 2016 Presidential Candidates

RODRIGO DUTERTE
- Populist

BUT WHAT
MADE HIM
STAND
OUT?
Webb, A., & Curato, N. C. (2018). Populism in the Philippines .
Duterte and the latest victory of
populist politics in the
Philippines
• Duterte positioned himself as the solution to the country’s
domestic and international decline.

• His campaign agendas revolve around the SPECIFIC problems

and issues faced by most of the people in the country like
poverty, illegal drugs and contractualization
Duterte and the latest victory of
populist politics in the
Philippines
• “ Tatay Digong”

• His campaign slogan “change is coming”

– People want some kind of change. They want to break
from the past. They are exasperated, aggravated.
• Aquino’s reformist government may have produced a glowing
economic scorecard, but poverty rates remained unchanged
at 25 percent. Unemployment still hovered at the 6-7 percent
range and the rate of inequality remained among the highest
in the region at .46. On top of this were the growing
frustrations of a middle class who demanded better services
from a booming economy, only to suffer from the daily
miseries of traffic congestion, rickety trains, and dilapidated
airports, while paying high taxes. (Webb & Curato, 2018)
 Estrada’s populist style in the late nineties paved
the way for Duterte today in two ways

1. The appropriation of an outlaw character,

which frames appeal around a counter-
discourse to the vocabulary of liberalism
- ‘matapang/astig/brusko/palaban’

Webb, A., & Curato, N. C. (2018). Populism in the Philippines .

 2. Exposure of the impenetrable social hierarchies that
characterize everyday life in the Philippines.
- Like Estrada, Duterte embraces the elements
of melodrama—from the storyline of hero and
villain, to creating spectacles to generate attention.
- Duterte fits rather than disrupts the character
of political discourse in the age of communicative
decadence.

Webb, A., & Curato, N. C. (2018). Populism in the Philippines .

• Duterte promised voters a raft of quick fixes

• eradicate crime within 6 months

• “My God I hate drugs!”

 The Presidency, political
parties, and predatory
politics in the Philippines
 From Clientelist to Predatory Regime

• According to Diamond (2001) in a predatory

state, the behavior of elites is cynical and
opportunistic… Ordinary people are not truly
citizens but clients of powerful local bosses
who are themselves clients of more powerful
patrons.
 From Clientelist to Predatory Regime

• A clientelist regime • Under predatory

is one based on regime, checks are
networks of dyadic breached and
alliances involving overwhelmed
the exchange of
favors between
politicians and their
supporters
Bribery Violence

Features of
Clientelist
Politics of
1960s and
70s

Fraud Coercion
 Three Gs of
Wealth and
Power

Guns Goons Gold

 Predatory Politics under Marcos
Regime
• The 1969 presidential election was described
as the dirtiest, most corrupt, most violent
election in the country’s history by both
national and local media

• There is engagement in large scale looting of

government resources
 Predation-authoritarianism relation

Prolong his stay

WHY MARTIAL LAW???? in office beyond
Controlled, captive media 1973
Abolished Congress
Subservient judiciary
Blind unwavering support of
the military

President
Ferdinand Marcos
Predation-Authoritarianism Techniques

Creation of monopolies in vital industries and placing

them under the control of cronies

Awarding of loans by government banking or financial

institutions to favored private individuals

Outright takeover by Marcos relatives or associates of

large enterprises
Issuance of presidential decrees and orders favoring
certain individuals and enterprises

Use of shell corporations and dummy companies to

launder money and invest in real estate

Depositing with the use of pseudonyms, numbered,

accounts and code names in banks in the Philippines
and overseas
• Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL) was the
country’s first patrimonialistic or predatory
party
– Provided Marcos’ underlings, especially ambitious,
self-serving politicians, the network and
connections to join in the systematic exploitation
of government resources, or to put it bluntly, to
partake in the loot
• Politics had become so dirty that
most politicians came to be labelled
as trapo (traditional politician)
 Joseph Estrada and his Predatory
Regime
• Manifestations of unexplained wealth- “grand
mansions” in which his mistresses lived, lavish
lifestyle of his extended family

• Involvement in jueteng – received P400 million in

protection money

• Undue intervention in an insider trading case

 Predatory Regime and Perverted
Institutions
• Corruption is the core phenomenon of the
predatory state
– Principal means by which officials extract wealth
from the society, deter productive activity, and
thereby reproduce poverty and dependency…
Corruption is to the predatory state what the
blood supply is to a malignant tumor. (Diamond,
as cited in Quimpo , 2010)
Gloria Arroyo and her Predatory Regime
• Corruption under Arroyo as humonguos

• Virtually every major project involving the

government was honeycombed with graft and
corruption

• Uses corruption to keep power and uses power to

pursue corruption in a self-reinforcing racket that
perpetuates evil in power
• Arroyo used armed forces for partisan political
purposes and even for cheating in elections

• David as quoted by Quimpo, 2010 described

the bonfire of institutions under Arroyo as
follows;
– Justice has become a weapon to intimidate those
who stand up to power
-COMELEC became a haven for fixers who deliver
fictitious votes to the moneyed and powerful

– Government bureaucracy has been turned into a

halfway house for political lackeys, misfits and the
corrupt
The strong presidency and patronage

The Philippine presidency is an extremely

powerful position… too powerful… that it has
become vulnerable to being manipulated and
abused by holders who have authoritarian or
predatory inclinations, or who want to remain
in power beyond their terms. ( Rocamora, as
cited in Quimpo, 2010)
• The dominance of the executive has often been
cited as one of the key factors for the weakness
of Philippine political parties

TRUE????
 Centralized Political Patronage
Control of the 1941 reelection
Legislature

Manuel
Quezon
Constitutional
provision

Hand in all laws

enacted
Amended
• Rocamora (1998) as cited in Quimpo
(2010), said that because of the centrality
of patronage for Philippine political parties,
the most important powers of the
President are his (1)appointing powers and
his (2) control over the disbursement of
government funds in a highly centralized
form of government.
 Patrimonialistic Political Parties

• Clientelistic party is a confederation of notables,

each with his own geographically, functionally or
personalistically-based support, organized
internally as particularistic factions
– Has a weak organization and places little or no stress no program,
no ideology
– Principal function is to coordinate the individual campaign efforts
of notables, usually indirectly or loosely, for the purpose of
securing power at the national level.
– Patterns of loyalty are linked with exchange of services and
obligations
• Traditional Political parties from the
American Colonial period
– Elite control
– No serious party platforms
– No stable organizational life
Money politics is
the predatory character of present-day
Philippine politics
 Trapo Parties

• Have patron-client type politicians as their

members
• Politicians dominant in them are no longer
content with the usual patronage

• rent-seeking and out-and-out corrupt type

 Trapo Parties

• Their fuzzy or nebulous character suits their

predatory purpose

• This allows them to escape scrutiny and

accountability

• “mutual support”
THUS…

• Political parties are just as strong as the

presidency in the sense of being predatory

• Mutually Supportive
– Both cannot really flourish without the cooperation of the other
– One provides protection for the other