THE ENIGMA OF POLITICS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Essay by: Dyanne Kristine Sideno

From the Greek ainigma(αἴνιγμα) to Latin aenigma, both words means "riddle," enigma
has come to refer to something or someone that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to
figure out. It is also used to characterized something unique or extraordinary traits in
someone or something that is not easily solved or understood. Philippine politics
particularly the Philippine political culture at face value might appear enigmatic compared
to Western norm of politics.

Philippine political culture has several easily identifiable key features- patronage politics,
4Gs (God, Guns, Goons and Gold) and, personalistic politics. Philippine elections are
nothing but fanfares of political chess games, accessibility, grand promises and ultimately
money. Traditional political campaign particularly in the local level, is synonymous to
patronage politics or living up to the cultural expectation that the politician should act as a
patron. This really means that politicians are expected to dole out money and that they
should personally attend to most community even personal needs of their constituents.

On the other hand, personalistic politics is a system of governance based on personal

relationships, i.e. family, kinship, friendship, personal loyalties; over and above political
principles. They should also be accessible. Accessibility in this case means constituents can
personally approach the politician to air out their grievances and articulate their needs.
Accessibility, Patronage and Personalistic politics are inseparable.

Elected officials are required to beyond their mandated duties and obligations. These
cultural expectations create external and internal pressures. The perceived and actual
demands of campaign volunteers, voters, colleagues in government, campaign benefactors,
coalition leaders naturally influence the practice of governance directly.

Election is supposed to be the foundation of democracy and good governance. It sets the
tone for the prioritization of policies and programs of both the national and local
government. The leaders elected set the example not just to the people in general and those
in the bureaucracy as well. Bureaucratic culture is molded and wielded according to
national and local leadership. This particular translation of leadership culture to
bureaucratic culture is quite unique. After all, the bureaucracy ideally in itself should have
its own culture independent of political leadership. However, this is not the case in this
country. The concept of continuity is set in contrast to an inconstant political landscape and
leadership.

In the case of the Philippines, it is the political leadership that conducts the notes of the
orchestra that is our bureaucracy. It is no longer surprising that career civil servants find
themselves often dealt with the short end of the rope. They are often than not passed over
in key positions by political appointees regardless of their qualifications or background.
This symptom can be mainly attributed to patronage and personalistic politics. The
professionalism and meritocracy of the civil service system is easier achieved in national
agencies rather than local governments. Ghost employees, political accommodation in form
of endless job orders, contractual and casual employees still haunt the halls of power in the
local level.

Politics and government are two sides of the same coin. Politics is determining the
production and distribution of limited resources taking in consideration the seemingly
unlimited needs and wants of the public. Philippine government is the reflection of
Philippine politics. Thus, Philippine government itself manifests traits of patronage and
personalistic politics and the constant need to be accessible to people. It is not uncommon
that government transactions are still riddled with nepotism, red tape, graft and
corruption.

The enigma of the politics in the Philippines in relation to public administration and
bureaucracy cannot be qualified as an enigma at all but rather a natural progression of both
democracy and bureaucracy. The Philippines has a fairly young democracy compared to
the Western and other neighboring Asian countries. They have hundreds of years on us – of
political struggles, of feudalism, of dictatorships, patronage politics and corruption. Our
history as a people and our history with a self-determining government has yet to reach its
adolescent stage. We have not even perfected our own sense of identity as a nation yet.

If we only recognize, really understand this, then we maybe can learn to be more patient
even forgiving when it comes to our own democracy, government and even countrymen.
The real enigma of Philippines is not in its politics. The Philippines and the Filipino nation
are enigma to themselves because they live in a world of countries with full blown liberal
democracies already ready for globalization in the Information Age.

We are the kid who is made to sit in the adult table. We are expected and we expect
ourselves to act like adults, be adults and participate in adult conversations. When we act
up or behave like kids, we are the first to be critical of ourselves thinking we should know
better. Democracy and good governance are like adulthood. They are continuous journeys
and not finite destinations.