Angela Loren D.

Rodolfo 11-HUMSS 1A
Considering the present situation, here in our country how would you describe the power of our
leaders?
Our problems today are the increasing prices of our foods and other products. Due to this
situation, we really need our leaders to come up with a solution to this problem.
Who are the leaders of our country? First, we should know what a leader is and what its
characteristics are. According to what I read, a leader is someone who inspires passion and
motivation in their followers. A leader is someone with a vision and a path to realize it. A leader is
someone whose team has support and tools to continue to achieve their goals. And to my way of
thinking, the leader is the one who decides what we are going to do in every situation we encounter,
but that doesn’t mean that the members or the people under his jurisdiction have no right to disagree
with his or her order. Leaders must listen to their members too, because behind the success of a
group is what we call unity, understanding and harmony with each other. Second, how do Filipinos
choose their leaders? The Philippines is a democratic country. We used to vote, and the candidate
who has the highest vote is the one who will win. Simply put, the majority wins. On May 9th, 2022,
the presidential election happened. There are 10 candidates for president and 9 for vice president.
The son of former president Ferdinand E. Marcos won as president and the daughter of former
president Rodrigo R. Duterte won as vice president. These two are joint forces. They are together in a
campaign. The Tandem of the Tiger and Eagle Not only are these two the leaders of our country, but
There is also a senator, congressman, governor, mayor, barangay captain, and SK chairman.
Why should the leader decide what we will do to solve our social problems? It seems to me
that it is because a leader has the power to make people follow him. What is the meaning of the word
"power"? Since we are talking about politics, we will find the meaning of political power. So, as stated
on Google, political power is the ability to control the behavior of people and/or influence the
outcome of events. It enables people or groups to control the policies, functions, and culture of
society.
The researchers identified six sources of power. What are those? Power comes from several
sources, each of which has different effects on the targets of that power. Some derive from individual
characteristics; others draw on aspects of an organization's structure. Six types or sources of power
are legitimate, referent, expert, reward, coercive, and informational. What is the use of these six
sources of power? First, legitimate power, also called "positional power," is the power individuals
have from their role and status within an organization. Legitimate power usually involves formal
authority delegated to the holder of the position. For example, a boss can assign projects, a policeman
can arrest a citizen, and a teacher can assign grades. Second, referent power in leadership means
having the ability to cultivate respect and admiration from your followers in a way that makes them
want to be like you. In other words, reference power is leading by example. If you want your team to
adopt certain habits or practices, you need to start by doing them yourself. Third, Expert power is the
ability an employee has, regardless of seniority, to show expertise in a subject or situation. For
example, if no one else in the department knows how to run a certain software program and a
specific employee does, that employee has the expert power in that situation. Fourth, an example of
reward power is a manager or supervisor who incentivizes higher performance from employees.
They could do this by offering rewards to team members who meet a certain sales quota. Another
way of explaining the reward power definition is a person with recognized authority in their work
environment. Fifth, Coercive power is a type of power that employs the use of force, threats, and
other forms of coercion to stimulate an outcome. A supervisor who threatens to demote, terminate, or
suspend an erring employee, for example, uses coercive power. Last, Informational Power is having
control over information that others need or want puts you in a powerful position. Having access to
confidential financial reports, being aware of who's due to be laid off, and knowing where your team
is going for its annual “away day” are all examples of informational power.
Among these six, I see our leader, President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., having three
powers. Those are legitimate, expert, and referent powers. Why not legitimate? As our president, he
can assign others who are also in a position to make things work and improve on what they
discussed in their meetings. In our situation today, I saw on the news how he handled the sugar
inflation. He assigned the farmer to plant more sugarcane. Why expert? I find him an expert because
he has knowledge and I can see how he thinks about the solution. He finds the cause of the effects
and from that he can give a great solution. Even though he doesn’t have a degree, he still has
knowledge of our situation. I know many people are upset with him, claiming that he lacks the
knowledge to provide a good solution to our problem, but I am confident that he can do so. I can’t
blame others for their perspective because in politics we have our own opinion that comes from a
reason we get from experience. Why referent? Many Filipinos respect him as our president. They also
admire him for the way he manages his haters and how professional he is.
In conclusion, by the explanation above, I can describe our leader as a great leader. Just like
his father, I know he'll also have the wisdom to make our country better and more wealthy as before.