This document is a reflection paper analyzing democracy in the Philippines through the lens of "contested democracy". It argues that democracy is contested by resistance from social movements and the masses. It provides examples of activists being suppressed, like the killing of human rights activists in 2020. It concludes that while the elite dominate politics, constitutionally protected freedoms allow for democratic efforts and confrontational resistance from the people.
This document is a reflection paper analyzing democracy in the Philippines through the lens of "contested democracy". It argues that democracy is contested by resistance from social movements and the masses. It provides examples of activists being suppressed, like the killing of human rights activists in 2020. It concludes that while the elite dominate politics, constitutionally protected freedoms allow for democratic efforts and confrontational resistance from the people.
Original Description:
POLSC 101 UP Diliman Frameworks in Philippine Politics
This document is a reflection paper analyzing democracy in the Philippines through the lens of "contested democracy". It argues that democracy is contested by resistance from social movements and the masses. It provides examples of activists being suppressed, like the killing of human rights activists in 2020. It concludes that while the elite dominate politics, constitutionally protected freedoms allow for democratic efforts and confrontational resistance from the people.
This document is a reflection paper analyzing democracy in the Philippines through the lens of "contested democracy". It argues that democracy is contested by resistance from social movements and the masses. It provides examples of activists being suppressed, like the killing of human rights activists in 2020. It concludes that while the elite dominate politics, constitutionally protected freedoms allow for democratic efforts and confrontational resistance from the people.
2019-03823 Prof. Miriam Coronel Ferrer Bachelor of Secondary Education (Social Studies) Reflection Paper 1
Contradiction, contestation, and confrontation: Resistance and democracy from below
The masses are not mere subservient followers that abide by the dictates of the elite. The masses engage in both informal and organized contestations to the unequal power relations that characterize the status quo. This is manifested by a “vibrant and militant social movement” in the Philippine civil society as Rivera mentioned. Such vibrancy is demonstrated by how civil society organizations in the country are situated at various points of the spectrum—some offering conservative alternatives, some advancing more progressive stances and, even, a radical program of action. In this paper, I will be anchoring my discussion on the crackdown on activists under the Duterte administration and how this phenomenon supports the proposition that democracy in the Philippines is rather contested. Despite a widescale public health emergency, we have witnessed how the Philippine state unceasingly utilized its monopoly of ‘legitimate’ violence in stifling dissent. The current crisis, characterized by a failed pandemic response and a massive economic downturn, has bred the conditions for people’s intrepid resistance. Notably starting with the issue of the ABS-CBN franchise renewal, celebrities from the entertainment industry have begun to criticize the government—with some having been ‘red-tagged’ by the military due to their engagements with GABRIELA. Even with quarantine restrictions in place, progressive individuals have successfully staged mobilizations in UP Diliman to protest pressing issues, such as the impending passage of the Anti-Terrorism Bill. This may have alarmed the Duterte administration, leading them to unilaterally abrogate the 1989 UP-DND accord. However, beyond the scenes at the center, the people in the peripheries have seen much worse. Jory Porquia, an Iloilo coordinator of Bayan Muna, was shot dead in Iloilo in April 2020 while Zara Alvarez, a human rights activist from Bacolod, was killed four months after. Acting on the search warrants issued by the Manila RTC, state forces led the ‘Bloody Sunday’ massacre last month of nine Southern Tagalog activists who are advocating for the rights of indigenous peoples, peasants, fisherfolk, and urban poor. This forms part of the string of judicial prescriptions, that has resulted in the mass arrests of activists all over the country—including Reina Nasino, a community organizer from Tondo, who was guarded by about 40 police personnel during her daughter’s burial. What can be made clear from this narrative is that the subordinate classes have, time and again, struggled to assert their place in the public sphere. While it is true that the elite class continues to dominate formal political processes such as national and local elections, the use of conventional top-down frameworks will obscure us from recognizing that people from the margins have tirelessly acted and organized to put forward their class and sectoral interests. Furthermore, such contestation is not simply embedded in the politics of everyday life but, rather, it has brewed continuing broad mass response such as what transpires in the ‘parliament of the streets’. Beyond direct action such as the picketing of hacienda farmers, the strikes of minimum- wage laborers, and the walk-out protests of petty-bourgeois students, popular participation in the arena of traditional elite politicians, in some way, has become ideological and programmatic in nature. Active participants in social movements have recognized the necessity of taking part in electoral politics with the party-list system being the most prominent method. A notable example would be the left-wing Makabayan coalition which won more than 10% of the allotted seats for party-list representatives in the past seven elections. While the intricacies of this system are considered by some as flawed and disadvantageous, the electoral performance of mass organizations concretely illustrates the growing influence of democratic forces from below. Through the lenses of the contested democracy framework, we can recognize the inherent agency of the masses; it is the confrontational exercise of this agency that has posed critical threats to the interests of the elite. Contestations of the masses in the legal-democratic contexts and the subsequent reaction of the ruling class, especially the landowners, compradors, and monopolistic capitalists, through political power/influence and explicit violence can be considered, therefore, as an embodiment of class contradictions in our society where wide economic disparity is entrenched in the social fabric. Hence, inter-class relations are actually not benign as what the patron-client, factional framework suggests. Moreover, these contestations cannot be accommodated by the structure of dyadic alliances wherein politics is basically characterized by the competition of two roughly cohesive strands of politicians, allies, and followers. The frameworks centering on bossism and the political machine also cannot sufficiently explain the observed phenomenon as the masses are still portrayed as powerless due to their being captive of the elite’s coercive, remunerative, and charismatic maneuvers. Interestingly, the organic-hierarchical paradigm may be appropriate in explaining the heightened crackdown on activists. Guided by the grand task of challenging the elite’s hold of political power, these activists are considered as “destructive and cancerous”; they cannot be incorporated into the body politic. However, I contend that certain segments of social movements in the country reject the symbiotic and paternalistic nature of the political system where the masses are to be perpetually subjugated. Instead, they are ultimately fueled by the desire to break away from the endless cycle of repression, especially when clashing interests are no longer reconcilable. Utilizing the contested democracy framework is a recognition of the nature and motivation of these contestations—and not a mere consideration of the suppression of such resistance as a decisive end in itself. Although the dependency analysis is espoused by some in mass-based movements, I believe that the primary issue tackled in this paper is whether or not democracy in the country is simply the realm of the elite. While I concede to the idea that Philippine politics remains to be dominated by the elite and the broader sociopolitical structure remains unaltered, constitutionally- protected freedoms and political processes allow for democratization efforts, popular empowerment, and confrontational resistance. The contested democracy framework conveys hope as it enables us to see the possibilities if the people will recognize the necessity of struggling against elite domination.
Figure 1. 2020 State of the Nation Address protest