Billy:

(Off-screen) “A ruler must learn to be other than good.”, this is an aphorism

by one of the most influential political authors; Niccolo Machiavelli, who
was famous for his cynical view of politics, thinking that, in such a realm,
deceitful and manipulative tactics are effective and necessary.
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(On-screen) In the 21st century, many people share this view of
Machiavellian politics due to the unprecedented corrupt and undemocratic
practices that prevail in many societies under the guise of a democratic
government.
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(Off-screen) This report will go over some of the manifestations of such
dishonest and manipulative politics as featured in the class reading; Nathan
Quimpo’s “Contested Democracy and the Left in The Philippines After
Marcos”.
This report is brought to you by the following students.
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(On-screen) The first political phenomenon that we are going to discuss is
the patron-client politics that in a nutshell, is a mutually beneficial, but
unequal relationship between a patron and a client.
In James Scott’s Patron-Client Politics and Political Change in Southeast
Asia, political anthropologists first tried to understand this dynamic as
political associations.
These anthropologists, conveniently, determined a horizontal and a vertical
model of political association.
The horizontal model or the class analysis model, takes into account the
pyramid view of society with the social classes, a somewhat Marxist
perspective, wherein the class analysis model dictates that people in the
same class systems are more likely to flock and associate with one
another.
The vertical model, otherwise known as primordialism, is a form of political
association that transcends these layers of social classes. It is a form of
association that emphasizes primordial characteristics more than class ties
such as race, ethnicity, language, and religion. This implies that no matter
the social class, these associations cut through these layers through these
characteristics common to these people.
It is important to note these theories which, however, weren’t enough to
explain the patron-client dynamic in the Southeast Asia. Why don’t we hear
more from JC?
JC:
(On-screen) As pre-empted in the introduction, patron-client ties are
mutually beneficial, yet unequal relationships.
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(Off-screen) To better explain this, Carl Landé, with his seminal work on
patron-client politics made notice of the lack of ideological disparity
between party systems in the Philippines. Since the political race was less
of an ideological clash than a clash of personal interests, party switching,
as Landé had put it, was endemic.
He took note that what took precedence in the composition of said parties
were networks of personal ties, later evolving to be the theory of patron-
client ties.
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(Off-screen) The core dynamic of these patron-client ties is the
reciprocation of favors between the patron and the client. There is an
implication of Marxist rhetoric as in the patron, often coming from a superior
class, provides needs such as financial assistance, jobs, and protection to
the client. The client then reciprocates through their allegiance or loyalty to
the client, often materialistically manifesting as votes or electoral
assistance.
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(On-screen) The glue that holds these patron-client ties are personal and
face-to-face relationships that emphasize Filipino values of ‘utang na loob’
and ‘pakikisama’, examples of these relationships being those between
relatives and a relationship between personalized superior and a
subordinate.
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(Off-screen) To further elaborate, Landé drew from Mary Hollnsteiner’s
insights on the multifunctional character of local factions, wherein she
noted the four basic social relationships that culminate into the structuring
of an alliance system: kinship, compadrazgo otherwise known as ritual
kinship, reciprocal obligations and associational ties.
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(On-screen) The most basic on-paper example of this model portrays the
peasant, in dire needs of material goods, being assisted by the landlord.
Should the landlord seek to run for public office, he can draw electoral
support from the peasants as they are obliged by debt of gratitude,
otherwise known in Filipino as ‘utang na loob’. That example, however, is
very shallow and dated. We are going to show you a news video that
connects to an example that makes use of both the horizontal and the
vertical models of association.
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-news video of El Shaddai-
Billy:
(On-screen) As seen on the video, there appears to be an emphasis of
endorsement towards past presidential candidate Manuel Villar for the
2010 elections. This vague association was called out by presidential
candidate Maria Consuelo Madrigal, implying that the Mike Velarde and
VIllar had a conspiracy, extracting billions from the C5 realignment projects
through corruption.
The first C5 realignment in 1998 with Velarde’s impetus, involved Velarde’s
Amvel Development and Villar’s Adelfa Company, all according to
Velarde’s deisgn of the realignment, from which Velarde was paid 1.2
billion pesos for. The realignment also caused VIllar’s property value to
increase at a conservative estimate of 6.2 billion, as the highway cut right
through his property the same as it did with Velarde’s.
If Madrigal’s claims of conspiracy were true, this would imply a tie or an
association between Velarde and Villar much deeper and more complex
than what we see at surface level. Upon observation of Velarde’s
endorsement of Villar, taking their implied relationship into account, would
be a display of patron-client politics at a horizontal plane, wherein Velarde,
a leader of a religious group, provided electoral assistance to VIllar through
endorsement, facilitated by their relationship to each other.
It is interesting to note that this example of patron-client politics operates in
the horizontal plane as both Villar and Velarde are in the same social class,
while at the same time, operating at a vertical plane as Villar extracted
electoral support, no matter how little, through the use of the primordial
sentiment that is religion.
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