CHAPTER 3: POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT

I.

1. Politics

- Politics is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of
power relations between individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of
social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science.

2. Political Development

- Ultimately, political development can be defined as an increase in national political unity and
an increase in political participation.
3. Liberalism
- Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the governed and
equality before the law.

4. Democracy

- Democracy refers to a form of government in which the people either have the authority to choose
their governing legislators, or the authority to decide on legislation.

5. Constitution

- A constitution is an aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute

the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that
entity is to be governed.

II.Brush Up

1. Describe brieftly the political development in the country during the Spanish period.

- Spanish colonial motives were not, however, strictly

commercial. The Spanish at first viewed the Philippines as a
stepping-stone to the riches of the East Indies (Spice Islands),
but, even after the Portuguese and Dutch had foreclosed that
possibility, the Spanish still maintained their presence in the
archipelago.

- The Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand

Magellan headed the first Spanish foray to the Philippines
when he made landfall on Cebu in March 1521; a short time
later he met an untimely death on the nearby island
of Mactan. After King Philip II (for whom the islands are
named) had dispatched three further expeditions that ended
 in disaster, he sent out Miguel López de Legazpi, who
established the first permanent Spanish settlement, in Cebu,
in 1565. The Spanish city of Manila was founded in 1571, and
by the end of the 16th century most of the coastal and lowland
areas from Luzon to northern Mindanao were under Spanish
control. Friars marched with soldiers and soon accomplished
the nominal conversion to Roman Catholicism of all the local
people under Spanish administration. But the Muslims of
Mindanao and Sulu, whom the Spanish called Moros, were
never completely subdued by Spain.
2. What is the connection of the Bourbon reforms with the Spanish Government in the
Philippine? Explain.
- The Bourbon reforms have been termed "a revolution in government" for their
sweeping changes in the structure of administration that sought to strengthen the
power of the Spanish state, decrease the power of local elites in favor of office
holders from the Iberian peninsula, and increase revenues for the crown.

3. What is the significance of the Cadiz Connection to the Spanish rule in the Philippines?
- Ambassador Salinas referred to the Cadiz Constitution as the very first
constitution, which governed the Philippines and which up to today has strongly
influenced the Philippines´ sociocultural and political traditions.

4. What is the effect of the liberalism and democracy to the political changes in the
Philippines during the Spanish time?

- When the United States colonised the Philippines in 1898 it planned to

gradually grant self-determination to the country as the principles of
democracy were imbibed by the population. As education was not
widespread, the elite and the educated benefitted most from the system
instituted by the US, which was largely executed by officers of the US
army. Filipinos worked in the American administration and quickly came to
value the concept of self-government. By 1917, when the US decided to
institute its policy of ‘Filipinisation’ , the elite was ready to assume
positions vacated by departing US military officers. Between 1917 and
1935, when the Commonwealth came into existence, political parties were
formed and most of the population was educated into accepting the
principles of democracy, which meant having a ruling party and an
opposition. In this respect, the Philippines was significantly different from
many Asian countries which gained independence a few years later. As
Apter (1962:154) points out: these countries did not generally accept an
opposition as a normal feature of a democracy. The small elite who
 controlled the political process realised that each party would have its turn
in government. The Nacionalista and Liberal parties, which differed little
ideologically, dominated politics, and politicians switched parties to gain
office. But the democratic system that developed did not represent the
majority of the population.

- The Philippine Commonwealth was inaugurated in 1935 under a democratic

constitution patterned after the United States bicameral system. ‘The
ideology of American ‘democracy’ which emphasised the limitation of state
power was very different from the philosophy of the French in Indo-China,
the Dutch in the Indies and the British in Malaya. It played into the hands of
the elite to whom the Americans, always ambivalent colonial rulers,
proceeded to hand over political power as soon as possible’ (Overholt
1986:1136).

- For most Filipinos, American-style democracy meant little more than

elections every few years. Beyond this, the colonial authorities made sure
that only the candidates who represented colonial interests first and last
won. This practice did not die with colonialism. The ensuing political order,
which persisted long after independence, was one where a handful of
families effectively and ruthlessly ruled a society riven by inequality. It was
democratic in form, borrowing as many American practices as it could, but
autocratic in practice (World Bank report cited in Chomsky 1991:237).

5. Explain briefly the impact of the Bourbon reforms to the political development in the
Philippines during Spanish style.
- The Bourbon Reforms (Spanish: Reformas Borbónicas) consisted of political and
economical legislation promulgated by the Spanish Crown under various kings of
the House of Bourbon, since 1700, mainly in the 18th century. The beginning of the new
Crown's power with clear lines of authority to officials contrasted to the complex system
of government that evolved under the Habsburg monarchs.[1] For example, the crown
pursued state supremacy over the Catholic Church, pushed economic reforms, and
placed power solely into the hands of civil officials. [2]
- The reforms resulted in significant restructuring of administrative structure and
personnel.[3] The reforms were intended to stimulate manufacturing and technology to
modernise Spain. In Spanish America, the reforms were designed to make the
administration more efficient and to promote its economic, commercial and fiscal
development. When looking at the material effects of how the Bourbon Reforms aimed to
change the relationship between the Spanish American colonies and the Crown, it can
be said that the reforms functionally aimed to transform juridically semi-autonomous
groups into proper colonies. Specifically, the reforms sought to increase commercial
agriculture and mining and increase trade. The system was intended to be much more
hierarchal, forcing the colonies to become more dependent on Spain and serve as a
market for their manufactured goods. The crown ordered these changes in hopes that it
would have a positive effect on the economy of Spain. [2] Furthermore, the Bourbon
 Reforms were intended to limit the power of the Criollos and re-
establish Spanish supremacy over the colonies.[4]
- The reforms achieved mixed results administratively but succeeded in alienating the local
elites of the Americas (who called themselves Criollos) and eventually led to
the independence of all overseas dominions of the Spanish crown.[5] This is not to say
that a clean and straight line can be drawn from the Bourbon reforms to the movements
for Independence, but rather that the period of unrest that came in the wake of the
reforms helped encourage the conditions necessary for local riots, and eventually revolts.
III. React
1. The Spanish officials in the 19th century were concerned move of their personal
welfare than the welfare of the country.
- The welfare state is a form of government in which the state protects and promotes the
economic and social well-being of the citizens, based upon the principles of equal
opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibility for citizens unable
to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life. [1] Sociologist T. H.
Marshall described the modern welfare state as a distinctive combination
of democracy, welfare, and capitalism.[2]
- As a type of mixed economy, the welfare state funds the governmental institutions for
health care and education along with direct benefits given to individual citizens. [3] Early
features of the welfare state, such as public pensions and social insurance, developed
from the 1880s onwards in industrializing Western countries. [4] The Great Depression,
World War I and World War II have been characterized as important events that ushered
in expansions of the welfare state.[4]
- The modern welfare state emerged in a reactive way to the Great Depression of the
1930s as a form of state interventionism to address unemployment, lost output and
collapse of the financial system. By the late 1970s, the contemporary capitalist welfare
state began to decline, in part due to the economic crisis of post-World War II capitalism
and Keynesianism and in part due to the lack of a well-articulated ideological foundation
for the welfare state.[5]
2. Liberalism demanded representative government as opposed to autocratic
monarchy.
- This was the political and social philosophy which believed in liberty and equality.
Liberalism demanded representative government as opposed to autocratic
monarchy, and equality before the law as opposed to legally separate classes.
Liberalism advocated for freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of
assembly, and freedom from arbitrary arrest. It called for unrestricted private
enterprise and no government interference in the economy (laissez faire).
Liberalism became associated with the middle class after 1815; some
intellectuals and foes of conservatism felt that liberalism did not go nearly far
enough.
3. The Bourbon reforms were intended to stimulate manufacturing and
technology to modernize Spain.
- The Bourbon were intended to stimulate manufacturing and technology to
modernise Spain. Furthermore, the Bourbon Reforms were intended to limit the
power of the Criollos and re-establish Spanish supremacy over the colonies.
 4. When Ferdinand VII returned to spain in 1814, he was urged by reactionaries
to abolish the Cortez of Cadiz and all its works.
- 1812 independent Spaniards adopted the Constitution of Cádiz, but in December
1813 Napoleon released Ferdinand expressly to overthrow it. When Ferdinand
returned to Spain in 1814 he was urged by reactionaries to abolish the Cortes of
Cádiz and all its works, which he did almost immediately.

5. Philip V of Spain, the first king of the House of Bourbon took measures
intended to counter the decline of Spanish power.
- Philip V of Spain, the first king of the House of Bourbon, took measures intended to
counter the decline of Spanish power called the Bourbon Reforms. Even before the
war, the state of the empire was precarious.