government of the philippines essay

Essay About Government In The Philippines

Development is essential to be a progressive country. It comes along with creating new jobs, solving self-sufficiency, and continuous economic growth in a nation. Watching Sen. Bongbong Marcos latest interview with Mrs. Karen Davilla in ANC videos. It had stricken me the most because the moment when Sen. Bongbong Marcos enumerated his father’s works. It had occurred to me that Philippines has the potential to grow like it was once before, during the Marcos administration. He also added, “Mga sumunod na administration, wala na kaming nakitang mga pagbabago”. The government services are just some simple reliance of the citizens for their daily lives. What if given a day this certain mass transit is unavailable? Some people will get angry, some will be patient enough, or some will blame the government. I chose this issue because this kind of government regulation must be placed into a halt. Many of us in a day-to-day basis we use different kinds of public transportation just to get into our designated workplace or school. I, on the other …show more content…

Government change from presidential to parliamentary would result to a leader that has a sufficient knowledge in politics, no separation of power, lesser cabinet members, and most of all passing of laws would be faster. In some countries parliamentary is their governing political system, these countries are: Singapore, United Kingdom, Thailand, and many more. Taken for example Singapore, we could always hear that they have the world-class university, world class airport, and world class business center. Looking back in the history of the Philippines during the Marcos administration, we were much like the Singapore at that time, many foreign investors would flock Philippines just to invest. We also had the first airlines and airport in Asia, which is the Philippines Airlines, and the Manila International Airport

Bureaucratic Politics: The 1972-1975 Whitlam Government

The status of public service is again changed during the 1972-1975 Whitlam government. Questions as to the minister-public

Free Trade In Canada Essay

The history of Canadian public administration over the years also plays a crucial role in the system. The Canadian public administration system was initially based on the British government system but has since then transformed into a system that is unique to the country (Drysdale, p.37). That interplay evolution made an independent system for Canada, and is a “result of Canada’s political culture, and the need for public administration to adapt over time, while upholding the principles of democracy” (Drysdale, 37). Therefore, the very reason the new Canadian public administration system came to be is because of the interplay of democracy and political culture, which is arguably the greatest influence it has had. The current system in place

The Bus A Modern Panacea Analysis

Also, you would not feel free as riding an individual vehicle. As long as the public transit system is not evolved, we should consider stop utilizing it. Try to walk, drive, ride a motorcycle, or a bike till the authorities consider our values and Improve its public transit system to make it almost "cure-all

Human Service Reforms

Since 1789, the founding and ratification of the original thirteen state constitution of the United States has revolutionized its government in order to protect its citizens as new advancements are made to benefit inhabitants of the recent New World. Since then the constitution was amended in order to gratify the needs of the people. Throughout the paradigm shift on the ideal of government, it is crucial to expound any modifications by means of bureaucracy. One of the difficulties of the shift that is directed toward the 21st century is the understanding the transition of improved government and its benefits for the delivery of human services. The government uses power, democracy, and politics to exercise their control by establishing new laws,

Memorandum To Office Of Secretary Les Singer

When looking at the different categorizes given to us, it was clear that by prioritizing people who drive public transportation, then this would at least give everyone a chance to get to and from where they needed to go. At the same time we also want to give people who need it and can afford the access to it. Now it’s hard to find a way to get everyone who needs gas, access to gas so some decisions need to be made. That being said we need to give gas to the people with the larger priority for it, which in this case is those who can provide transportation for now until we are able to come to a conclusion about how we are going to handle the lack of

Annexation Of The Philippines Essay

Deciding the Annexation of the Philippines Assessment: On Google Docs you need to write a three paragraph essay arguing whether or not the United States should or should not annex the Philippines. You need to use 2 pieces of evidence from the documents per paragraph. Americans might have thought that all war and chaos would have ended and stayed in the year of 1898, when we (America) won over the Spanish, in the Spanish-American war. Although, we were partially right with allowing us to have some sort of peace, we did not figure that we may have to have annex a whole different country, taking away from our “peace”.

Dikembe Mutombo Accomplishments

Mutombo said “I just pray our participation maybe is the beginning of the road to recovery’’. Dikembe Mutombo wants a better society with fewer people dying of preventable diseases and a more stabilized country with less

Sociological Imagination In My Personal Life

For example, a personal trouble public transportation. While, public transportation is a good way to find way from place to place. Public transportation isn’t required way to get around so there for it’s a person trouble. Not everyone has time to wait for a bus or even wants to get there at a specific time a day. It’s even more difficult for those who use the bus for school or work because not all the time is the bus itself on time.

Analysis Essay On Common Sense By Thomas Paine

Pain tries to show that this type of relationship between the people and its government is not a healthy one, and it

San Francisco Gentrification System

The noise and inconvenience of these buses on narrow residential streets have caused inconveniences for citizens. Another negative externality the tech companies are creating is the effect of driving up rental prices within a walking distance of their company city bus stops. Lower-income people should not bear the brunt of the negative externalities of economic

Strengths And Weaknesses Of Government In The Philippines

It is perhaps opportunely that our government is able to push through boundaries and traditions to come up with resolutions and better policies/laws. All this time, the Philippine Economy has been deemed to have strong growth hindered by political uncertainties. This is so true. We have a potential to be great and yet we still move slow towards our development and sustainability. Our country has its own strengths and weaknesses that affect positively and/or negatively our over-all status.

Music In The Philippine Culture

The Philippines has always had a rich musical history. It takes its roots from the indigenous tribes of the Philippines, who used it as a way to pass on epics and stories about gods and heroes, a way to celebrate good harvests, festivals, weddings and births, a way to mourn the dead, to court women, and a way to praise the gods. This music was then enriched by the Philippines’ western colonizers. The Spaniards imparted the zarzuela (called sarswela in the Philippines) and the rondalla, adding more Spanish touches to Filipino folk songs. The Americans, on the other hand, influenced the Philippine music scene by introducing pop and rock, eventually leading to the creation of “Pinoy pop”, which included a wide variety of forms like dance tunes, ballads, rock n’ roll, disco, jazz, and rap.

Lim Goh Tong Leadership Analysis

It is the people that make things happen.” He knew very well that everyone is important. He appreciated everyone and this made everyone to identify their value of existence in the organization and even in the world. People often say that “It’s not about who you are, but who you know”. Uncle Lim always believed that treating everyone well means securing the assistance when

Negative Effects Of Globalization In The Philippines

CALELAO, Kyla Ellen, M. SURVIVING THE CYNICAL EFFECT OF GLOBALIZATION IN THE COUNTRY “We were all humans until, race disconnected us, religion separated us, politics divided us, and wealth classified us.” Despite of the great impact of it in the advancement of our country, globalization has been threatening our lives and the worst thing is that we, Filipinos, are not aware of this threat brought by the phenomenon. The widening of the gap between the rich and poor people, a result of globalization, puts the Philippines deeper in the quicksand of poverty and also causes social injustices among men.

Essay About Water Management In The Philippines

Introduction By the year 2025, the Philippines is believed to be brought to a water crisis if no new sources of water are developed or found to meet the growing demand of the citizens. (Sapnu, R., Balabo, D., & Cervantes, D., 2007) "There is a Japan International Cooperation Agency study that says that if we will not conserve water, there may be some problems. But of course we can always start conserving now and look for other sources," Lopez (2013) said. Studies have shown how water conservation and appropriate water utilization are significant as early as today.

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Home Essay Examples Politics Federalism

Federalism In The Philippines

• Category Politics
• Subcategory Forms of Government
• Topic Federalism

As recently as January 22 of this year, President Rodrigo Duterte is still adamant of his plea to change the unitary form of government to a federal approach (PhilStar 2019). Due to this, it is a must to go in depth about the definition of federalism, its connotations in our country’s current political-economic state, and if it is actually the right step of action in order to attain the national-level development that the Philippines aspires to achieve.

To serve as a basis, federalism, according to the US legal, is a system of government that utilizes two degrees of authority in the same territory or geographical area – those of which are the federal and state governments. One exercising control over the state as a whole and the other over local concerns respectively. Since both degrees of government have Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, they are then able to make and enforce laws as long as it is within the Constitution of the federal government.

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In regards to the reasoning for this proposal, President Duterte’s rationale was that federalism will be able to establish powerful economic regions, provide more funding and support for those said regions, decentralize power to the local government, and finally bring an end to the conflict in Mindanao. In addition, Consultative Committee Commissioner Edmund Tayao said that this form of government will address the dilemma of the nation’s local government planning and budgeting as well.

With such a grand paradigm shift proposed, it will have to be coupled with constitutional revisions, amendments, and proposals that have to be approved by the Philippine Congress. The draft for the said charter, according to the Consultative Commission, adopts a federal-presidential government, retainment of the three main branches for the federal government, and a total of 18 federated regions- each having their own regional government with an executive, legislative, and judiciary branch.

The federal form of government should not be implemented as of this moment, as it may divide the unity between the Filipino people, decentralize income, power, and development, and sever cultural ties and national identity amongst the citizens. Federalism, contrary to the judgment of the current administration, will not address the issues that it wishes to solve in the first place, specifically, the concerns of the Bangsamoro Organic Law and regional inequality.

One of the notable characteristics of the Philippines is its geographical feature of being an archipelago, composed of over 7,000 islands – that of which the country faces countless struggles in governance. Further divided into three main islands, namely Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the center of government is located in Luzon – specifically in the National Capital Region (NCR) – which is then highly urbanized and advanced in terms of infrastructure and industrialization compared to other regions. Due to its proximity to the very residence of the President of the Philippines – speedy and adept government response and services can be observed in contrast with those far-fetched areas such as Mindanao and Visayas. Though the government still exercises absolute power and authority in its attempts to satisfy the needs of the people at the same rate as those immediate areas – government feedback still remains prevalently lackluster in terms of speed. (Brilliantes & Moscare, n.d.)

A substantial basis for the introduction of federalism in the country is the theory that due to the geographical divisions in our country, the national laws and rules enforced by the government does not aid in the development of regional territories. A law imposed for the good of the capital does not necessarily result in the growth of its other poverty ridden neighbors. Take K-12 for example. It is evident that even the institutions in Manila are struggling in implementing the law, much less for the regions that have little to no materials and resources for even basic education.

This is where the unification of the people is introduced. In attempts to address this significant issue, the proposal of implementing a federal government in the Philippines was suggested not only by the current administration but also ever since the 1880s as Dr. Jose Rizal has stated in his works – the Philippines would soon be subjected into a federal form of government (ASINIERO, 2013). Though, with Rizal’s prestigious and broad varieties of education from a wide spectrum of countries and exposure to different ideologies, can those alone be a basis to implement a government that may cause division rather than unification amongst the Filipino people?

Ever since pre-colonial times, the Philippines has been known to have a regional approach in governance. The existence of numerous tribes and the disputes that transpired between these government bodies, may it be for the purpose of territorial sovereignty or its expansion thereof, are proof that from the very start that the Philippines has first come to know a decentralized government. Come the colonial period wherein the Philippines has been subjected to a centralized government under the Spaniards’ and Americans’ rule. Ever since then, we could say that the prior mindset of the Filipinos to have respectable views on local government units have been reduced to these units being looked down upon. (Brilliantes & Moscare, n.d.)

In contrast, federalism encourages the division of regions, for the sake of its regionalized development. Unfortunately, diversification is an integral reason for the unfavorable execution of federalism. Disagreements between the people of the country not only result to conflicts in terms of the actualization of laws in the state, but there is a higher susceptibility of negative contention in society. Take the Bangsamoro Basic Law for instance – recently there has been discourse whether this was to be ratified in time before the 2019 elections. President Rodrigo Duterte has expressed his approval of establishing the said law along with the establishment of a federal government in the Philippines with the amendments done to the 1987 Constitution in accordance with the country’s transition to another form of government. (Aguillas, 2018) Pertaining to the region of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), Bangsamoro Basic Law or BBL strives to form a secular autonomous government that will be under Bangsamoro government with its own identity and political identity, similarly called Bangsamoro (phjesuits.org, 2018). On an interview conducted by MindaNews, President Duterte has disclosed his plans of establishing BBL before proceeding to the transition to a federal government as a whole. He further explained that this was the case due to the fact if the whole Constitution were to undergo changes, there would be great difficulty to find loopholes and a way around it once it is amended. Though the establishment of the Bangsamoro will not be viewed as a creation of a new state, there is a certain level of authority the Bangsamoro can practice that may be likened to that of a federal state.

Despite the several benefits the establishment of both the Bangsamoro and federalism in providing a more steadfast response on addressing the concerns both on a local and regional level. The establishment of such structures of governance may promulgate a sense of isolation and individuality among the other regions of the Philippines.

ARMM has recently been one of the major contributors to the economy of the country and at some point besting the economic growth rate back in 2017. (Basa, 2018) Given this data and the fact that the amount needed to execute the proposed law amounts to 60 billion block grants implies that in implementing such structure of government can create a scene of survival of the fittest since rich and well-off regions would not likely unite with that of poorer ones leaving them to fending off for themselves. (phjesuits.org, 2018)

Aside from its plausible outcomes in the economic aspect, one cannot ignore the fact that there may be a monopoly of power amongst powerful families thus the recurrence of political dynasty in which 94% of the regions are said to subjected to. (phjesuits.org, 2018) Moreover, the recently proposed amendment Resolution of Both Houses No. 15 (RHB 15) of House Speaker Representative Gloria Arroyo in accordance with the transition to a federal structure of government allows power and authority to remain with the designated officials as the charter change removes the term limits of a position. (Cepeda, 2018) With these amendments to the Constitutions and that political state of the country, the division of the Philippines into distinct federal states can be used as a means to monopolize power in the family and further regress the welfare of the citizens, development of the country thus doing more harm than good.

Furthermore, this may then result to national regression in terms of economy and national chaos that can further divide the people that would then develop a mindset of individual progress and development rather than what is beneficial for the progress of the Philippines as a whole.

To be sure, diversity is within the country is not at all unfavorable, but instead, a cause for memorialization. That is to say if it falls within the bounds of unanimity in patriotism.

Harmony in the case of passed laws that benefit the country as a whole, instead of sectoral gains, should be approbated.According to the United Nations Human Development report on 2004 entitled Cultural Liberty in Today’s Diverse World, while national integration should result in cohesion between the citizens of the country, this should not be at the cost of indigenous antagonism and obscuration.Regrettably, this issue is very well present in the state and its current state of government. This could also mean for the further relapse between the relationship of the government, its citizens and indigenous groups of people.In like manner, before the permanent implementation of the federalism state of government, it is only right that within those laws, it is firmly urged that the government will uphold their agreements on the cooperation of subnational governments and their diversified matters of interest and disputes (Ll & Yusingco, 2016).

Along with the decentralization of the national government’s power in controlling all sectors of governance all throughout the Philippine archipelago, comes the decentralization of income.

Each region has its own resources in which they are abundant in, the richness of our country in terms of natural resources and raw materials has aided significantly in the progression of our economy. The fact that our agricultural sector is one of the leading contributors to our economy says a big deal of our reliance on these resources and raw materials. However, if one were to set apart each region and let them utilize their respective products that they could produce, there would be an obvious scale of discrepancy among their incomes. Though the evident individual development of the regions may come into fruition – not every region has the same abundance of resources as the others. There will be a so-called decentralization of income in which instead of the income earned by all the regions of the Philippines were all to be utilized by the national government, it would all go down to the individual regions. Individual regional development may be promulgated through this however, a sense of communism and division may become prevalent that will not be good for the country in the long run.

The ideology of communism can help in justifying what each region should receive income-wise in line with the various services and products they have contributed. Given this principle, an urbanized region would have a different income rather than that of more provincial-rural sectors. Individual regional development would then further sever the unification of the Filipino people in aiding one another to attain the country’s holistic progress and development.

Furthermore, according to political adviser Richard Heydarian, studies have proven that only a few regions are capable of raising enough revenue and taxes on their own. In turn, in a federal setting, the richer states in Luzon will develop and muster even growth to enhance competitiveness, which will actually deepen the already evident developmental gap compared to the other regions. To support this claim, the developmental gap between rich the states of New York and California compared to southern and midwestern states have barely simmered down after two whole centuries of federalism in such a powerful nation such as the United States.

Another negative point on the drafting of the federal bill is, in light of its uncertain operation, is still demanding a hefty amount of 100 million pesos (Talabong, 2018). According to ACT Teachers Representative Antonio Tinio, funds of the Filipino people are being squandered away on a low percentage that the federal draft will even be put into action. Instead of the expenditure of hard-earned resources given by the people, should the lawmakers in our country really prioritize the low possibility of executing a federal form of government in the country instead of investing on more appropriate and timely affairs?To name a few, free and universal healthcare, human rights, economic regression, drugs and rehabilitation, poverty, education, and transportation.This is not to say that federalism should be completely eliminated from the consideration of the government, especially if they deem it the only method of tackling the said issues. Unfortunately, funds should be allocated by order of importance and federalism is not in a time of convenience, primarily as our lawmakers are constructing this as a mean to easy exploitation.

Dating back to the pre-colonial period, Federalism has long been introduced to the Philippines, but the decentralized form of government soon shifted into a centralized structure through numerous colonization. The implementation of a federal government was then proposed by Rizal and remains to be yet a controversial issue up until today, as seen in the recent attempts in amending the 1987 Constitution and preparations done to pave the way for the establishment of a federal form of government. As the Philippines is an archipelago, composed of far-flung islands, issues of sluggish government response and services, transportation, regional development, and economic progress continue to plague the country.

In pursuit of resolving these issues, the government has turned to the possibility of establishing federalism in the Philippines. As this is a completely distinct form of government, the question still stands whether or not this will do the country good or backfire into adverse results. Attempting to unify the country through encouraging diversity can be a feat to achieve – that of which federalism tries to do. The establishment of a federal government can decentralize income and may result to uneven distributions of the said income, thus making rich regions even more so and poorer regions stagnant to the promised development. Furthermore, the government would have to spend a tremendous amount of money, time and resources to execute this when these vital assets should be spent on more timely and urgent concerns experienced by the citizens.

Whilst in an ideal Philippine context federalism is beneficial, with the current state of the country, most especially the Philippine government, it is not advisable when taken into consideration realistic factors and its corresponding analyses.To conclude, as of now the said proposal should not be actuated due to the following reasons: economic, political and social aspects portrayed in the decision of establishing a federal government must be consulted first in order to produce judgment whether or not the said proposal will indeed contribute to the holistic well-being of the country without sacrificing one aspect for the other. For instance, there might be a possible economic gain if we utilize the diversity of each region’s produce but in the end, the development and progress may also become individualistic and selfish – altogether defeating the purpose of federalism in promulgating unity amongst diversity.

• Federalism. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2019, from https://system.uslegal.com/federalism/
• Longley, R. (2019, January 17). Federalism and How It Works. Retrieved February 4, 2019, from https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-federalism-3321880
• Federalism. (n.d.). Retrieved February 4, 2019, from https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/federalism
• Ll, M. H., & Yusingco. (2016, October 28). COMMENTARY: Federalism, diversity and national integration. Retrieved from https://www.mindanews.com/mindaviews/2016/10/commentary-federalism-diversity-and-national-integration/
• Aguillas, C. (2018, January 15). BBL will be passed ahead of shift to federalism – Duterte. Retrieved February 5, 2019, from https://www.mindanews.com/peace-process/2018/01/bbl-will-be-passed-ahead-of-shift-to-federalism-duterte/
• Basa, M. (2018, April 26). Three Mindanao regions beat the country’s GDP in 2017. Retrieved February 5, 2019, from https://www.rappler.com/business/201177-three-mindanao-regions-beat-country-gdp-in-2017
• Heydarian, R. (2018). Does Federalism Make Sense For The Philippines?. Retrieved July 19, 2018, from
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardheydarian/2018/07/19/does-federalism-make-sense-for-the-philippines/#55a1814977cf
• Meniano, S. (2018). Federalism seen as ideal topic in 2019 polls. Retrieved August 16, 2018, from http://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1045019
• Nicolas, B. (2018). The quest for federalism: is it worth changing the Charter?. Retrieved July 11, 2018 from https://businessmirror.com.ph/2018/07/11/the-quest-for-federalism-is-it-worth-changing-the-charter/
• Phjesuits.org. (n.d.). Frequently Asked Questions on Federalism. Retrieved February 5, 2019, from http://www.phjesuits.org/portal/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Federalism-Primer.pdf
• Phjesuits.org. (n.d.). BBL-Primer. Retrieved February 5, 2019, from http://www.phjesuits.org/portal/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/BBL-Primer.pdf
• Senate of The Philippines Press Release. (2018). Filipinos Believe Federalism Won’t Solve Their Problems, Drilon says. Retrieved May 2, 2018 from http://www.senate.gov.ph/press_release/2018/0502_drilon1.asp
• Talabong, R. (2018, August 29). Why should Filipinos fund P100-M campaign for ‘uncertain’ federalism? Retrieved from https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.rappler.com/nation/210643-why-should-filipinos-fund-campaign-uncertain-federalism
• Cepeda, M. (2018, October 8). Arroyo’s draft constitution removes lawmakers’ term limits. Retrieved February 5, 2019, from https://www.rappler.com/nation/213814-arroyo-draft-federal-constitution-removes-term-limits-lawmakers

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In This Article Expand or collapse the "in this article" section Philippine Politics and Government

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Philippine Politics and Government by Julio Teehankee LAST REVIEWED: 26 October 2023 LAST MODIFIED: 26 October 2023 DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0366

The study of politics and government in the Philippines was borne out of critical junctures in historical state-making and nation-building in the country. From colonialism to nationalism, modernization, authoritarianism, and democratization, the Philippines is an interesting case study since it reflects significant periods in its political history. The emergence of political science in the Philippines has contributed to the rise of several Philippine politics and government theories that frame the analysis of its political development. Despite the early influence of American political science on the study of Philippine politics and government, Philippine political science has avoided quantitative methods until recently. Nonetheless, the latest studies by Filipino political scientists present a dynamic and pluralist perspective. For the most part, the bulk of research publications has focused on democratic and state institutions that include executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government; the bureaucracy; local government and decentralization; policymaking in general; the military and police; elections; voting; election rules; and political parties. Philippine politics has been largely criticized for being corrupt, patronage-based, and lacking ideological grounding. However, political and social movements have mobilized ideology in contesting power in the country. Essentially, there have been four ideological traditions in the Philippines: nationalism, liberalism, radical Marxism, and socialism. Despite several attempts to articulate an ideologically based discourse, Philippine politics continue to revolve around candidate-centered alliances of provincial bosses, political machines, and local clans, grounded on clientelistic, parochial, and personal inducements rather than issues, ideologies, and party programs. Nonetheless, alternative theories have emerged to challenge this view of Philippine politics. In recent years, the strong institutionalist and statist approach of the discipline in the country has been receptive to alternative and multidisciplinary perspectives. The Philippines is also home to a broad range of voluntary associations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and other manifestations of a relatively vibrant civil society and social movements. New ideological formations gravitating around postmodern, cultural, and identity-based issues have also emerged. Moreover, new challenges, such as democratic regression, authoritarian revival, and digital disinformation, necessitate looking at old problems with new academic lenses. In addition, domestic politics continue to impact how the country navigates its foreign policy, particularly in defense of its “national interest” in the rapidly shifting global arena.

Analyzing Philippine Politics and Government

Familiarizing oneself with the theories and history of Philippine politics and government is an initial step in understanding its intricacies. The development of political science in the Philippines has contributed to the emergence of several theories of Philippine politics and government that frame the analysis of political development. Subsections scan the literature on Philippine Ideologies ; Patron-Client, Brokerage, and Machines ; and Alternative Theories of Philippine Politics . A subsection provides the historical context of Philippine Political Development .

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The Philippines: Form Of Government Of The Philippines

The Philippines has a colourful history in its forms of government. The formal form of government has started from a revolutionary government to the current Philippine Republic. After the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish, in 1899, the Malolos Constitution was introduced establishing the First Philippine Republic . When the United States of America promised to grant independence to the Philippines under the Jones Law; when the Tydings-McDuffie Act was passed in 1934, the Commonwealth of the Philippines was established. During the establishment of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, the Philippine Legislative was created, were the representatives of the Upper House (Philippine Commission, Senate) and the Lower House (Philippine Assembly, …show more content…

Also, in a Parliamentary form of government the head of state is usually a different person from the head of government. This is in contrast to a presidential form of government, where the head of state often is also the head of government. This scenario would mean that former presidents Ramos, Estrada and Macapagal-Arroyo may be nominated or appointed as a Prime Minister, the head of government, thereby extending their administration and seat of power. This extension of power may be a result of personal or political interests, which may cultivate and improve the political and socioeconomic situation of the country or create turmoil and dissatisfaction to the Filipino people. While these unsuccessful attempts to create constitutional reform were predominantly present in the Philippine political history, there will be similar situations where leaders will carry on this agenda in the future, and when thisl happen, the Filipino people will be ready to accept

Apush Dbq Essay

Taft recommended that there be a civil government created within the Philippines, comprised of an elected legislative assembly. Under his administration, Taft was able to negotiate with congress to pass a bill that included a governor, an independent judiciary, and the legislative assembly.

Comparing Korea And The Philippines In The Early 20th Century

pursued The United States government allowed the Philippines to be self-governed to some degree. A governor-general appointed by the President of the United States would serve at the head of the nation with a

The Acquisition Of Philippines By The United States

The acquisition of Philippines by the United States is the topic that is going to be focused upon throughout this paper. The historical context of this topic deserves to analyzed with reference to both the primary and secondary readings assigned. The highlighted issue takes place after the treaty of Paris was signed between the United States and Spain which liberated Spain’s remaining colonies. Towards the end of the 19th century, Americans were influenced by the ideology of imperialism. They believed that advanced industrialized nations like the United States, Great Britain and France needed to acquire colonies in order to provide raw materials to feed their industrial economies. Extensive markets were wanted in order to sell finished products to those colonial masses.

The Yellow Press Book Summary

The Filipinos had been fighting the Spanish prior to the arrival of the U.S. Aguinaldo knew he needed a major power to help him with his struggle. Aguinaldo met with Dewey in Hong Kong and sailed with him to the Philippines. After Dewey’s naval victory in the Manila Bay, Aguinaldo believed he could begin Filipino independence so he formed his government based on the U.S. Constitution. However, the U. S. turned against him when they annexed the island nation. McKinley justified his position saying it would take them 100 years to understand what true freedom means (book, p.672).

The Battle Of The Spanish American War

In this argument, I believe the failures of the initial Philippine colonial project not only retrogressed the islanders back into their primitive informal aristocracy but actually help unify and modernize a regime that was the complete reversal of American intentions. The result of the type of Filipino government after reconstruction were significantly constrained by Anti-Imperialists tensions from the metropole and continued to reshape itself by many additional constraints from the Filipino legislation. Only about fifty years later of political administration would enable the development of an autonomic government.

Difference Between Parliamentary And Presidential Democracy

Along with the contrast in branches, the two democratic schemes further diversify as the leaders of presidential and parliamentary systems lose their power differently. In a presidential system, there is a fixed term limit that dictates how long the president can reside in power: the terms of office of both president and assembly are fixed.” (Shugart and Mainwaring, pg.14). A fixed terms causes the president to be in office with a much lesser danger of losing power, with his or her only danger being impeachment which has been extremely rare in North American presidential systems as only two presidents in the history of the United States have been impeached, Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1999. Also, this leads to presidency having scheduled elections as the president’s time is limited. Conversely, in parliamentary, there is no fix term and an election is called on the advice of the prime minister, thus, the prime minister does not lose his or her place in office due to a time limit. However, the prime minister has a much greater chance of losing his or her position of power due to the need to be supported by the majority in legislature: “The chief executive power must be supported by a majority in the legislature and can

Annexation Of The Philippines Created The American Empire Essay

To justify the case for the annexation of the Philippines, we must first look at a snapshot of the Philippine archipelago to understand the advantages the islands provided the United States. The Philippines was a vast chain consisting of over 7,000 islands, with 74 provinces, 43 different ethnic groups, and 87 different spoken languages. The population around 1899

American Imperialism In The Philippines Research Paper

As document B states, "Would not the people of the Philippines prefer the just, humane, civilizing government of this Republic […]". However, what America did not take note of is the fact that the Philippines were already a country of their own. For instance, they already had their own: language, currency, culture, and traditions which were all very different from our own. The Filipinos were proud of their history and did not welcome America's

Disadvantages Of Political Dynasty

Political dynasty is a well known method of politicians in the Philippines wherein the members of the family been made also a member of the government in order for them to not lose power but gain more power. This act abides an unfair and unjust for the reason that the government is not a business that a family can run by themselves, but the government is for all and other people should be given chances wherein they can be the one that leads a community. The government or politics is not a business that can be run by generation and generation of a family the government comprises a critical part of a community having different leaders in every generation and not only one leader that has his or her family in the position of the government cause the system will not change it will just proceed constantly

Country X Research Paper

I chose a parliamentary government because it allows for power to be less centralized and it allows there to be a broad power sharing executive. Within this parliamentary government, as far as choosing the mainly ceremonial president who occupies the position of head of state, this process will be through the election by parliament, to avoid potentially turning the parliamentary system into a semi presidential one. A semi- presidential government is to be avoided because it could easily lead to presidential elections which are majoritarian in nature. There will be a two-thirds majority required for amending the constitution. The lower house of the legislature will have approximately 140 representatives because that is the approximate cube root of the country’s population size, as suggested by Lijphart, with four year terms. There will be a constitutional provision to limit the number of referenda, in order to keep the majority from using them against the minorities. (Lijphart,

Parliamentary vs Presidential, Which is Better for the Philippines?

The parliamentary system is a system of democratic governance wherein the executive and legislative branches of the government are intertwined and are lead collectively by a Prime Minister who must have been proven to be competent and capable, as chosen among his party members. However, the Philippines is currently under the presidential system, also a system of democratic but republican governance, which is led this time by a president, and wherein there is a separation of powers between the executive and the legislative. In the presidential system, people have the collective power to vote for the president.

President System vs Parliament System

The presidential government has distinctive characteristics compared to parliamentary system. According to Hargrove, “presidential government can be defined as by nature, single-person office, chosen for a fixed term by a uniquely national constituency, sharing virtually all the powers of the federal government with an equally distinct and independent congress” (Hargrove, 1984). The president, who is directly elected by public, is head of the government and also head of the state. It appears that the president has full support from public and also symbolizes the national representative and unifying figure. The “separation of power” and “check and balance” are main features in the presidential form of government. According to Abueva, “legislative power is vested in

Philippine Government

Looking back to the previous government systems in different periods in Philippine history, we can see that our present government system is somehow shaped and patterned from the previous systems that prevailed in our country. Pre – historically we have seen how they established their government and basically, we can say that it is far more primitive than the present system that we have. However, the basic principles like the consultation of the datus to the elders can somehow be seen in the present by the presence of political advisers where our president consults aside from the members of the senate and the congress. The barangay system

Comparing the American Presidential System and the Parliamentary System

The parliamentary system, unlike the American presidential system, is recognizable by a fusion of powers between the legislative and executive branches. The Prime Minister, who is the chief executive, may be elected to the legislature in the same way that all other members are elected. The Prime Minister is the leader of the party that wins the majority of votes to the legislature-either de facto, or in some cases through an election held by the legislature. The Prime Minister appoints Cabinet Ministers. However, unlike in the presidential system, these members are typically themselves legislature

The United States And Philippine Government Essay

In modern times, the Philippines has been a central ally in the United States’ Asian and Pacific policies. The government structure is similar to that of the United States, including a legislative, judicial, executive branch that independent in their roles. Since becoming a nation independent from the United States, the Philippines has seen its share of success and failure. In the past three years the government has dealt with natural disasters, terrorism, and Chinese aggression. While the Philippine and United States governments have generally been cordial and cooperative, the Philippine president is currently weighing the decision to cut ties with the United States and align his country with China.

Related Topics

• Corazon Aquino
• President of the Philippines
• Ferdinand Marcos
• Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
• Senate of the Philippines
• Joseph Estrada

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Importance of Taxation in The Philippines: The Republic Act and The Corporate Recovery

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The Philippine Government

Updated 30 September 2022

Subject Politics

Downloads 33

Category Government

Topic Philippine Government

The Philippines' political elite is highly adaptable and resilient. Though a president is only allowed to serve for a maximum of six years, his influence is still substantial. He wields influence in policymaking, elections, and regulatory bodies. He also has influence in jurisprudence and the distribution of government resources.Power is divided among three branches of government The Philippine government is divided into three main branches: the executive, the judicial, and the legislative. The executive branch is composed of the President and Vice President and is responsible for enacting laws. It also has the power to declare war. The executive branch has a chief justice and a cabinet. The President is the head of state and leader of the national government. He serves for six years and is not eligible for reelection. The legislative branch includes the House of Representatives and Senate.The first branch is the Parliament. The Congress of Deputies has 350 members. All bills must pass the Congress's committees before they are submitted to the Senate. If the president vetoes a bill, the Senate has the power to amend the text. Only after a new examination can the Senate make a final decision. The Congress is responsible for the investiture of the President of the Government. A motion of censure by the Congress of Deputies or the Senate can lead to the President's resignation.The Senate is the highest legislative branch. Its members are elected to six-year terms. They can be re-elected, but cannot serve for a third consecutive term. If there is a vacancy in a legislative seat, a special election may be called. If the seat in the Senate becomes vacant, the House of Representatives will vote to fill it with a new member. If the position is vacant before the regular legislative election, a special election will be held. In this case, the new member of the Senate will serve out the unfinished term of the district representative who left. This election is only held for senatorial seats that are vacant ahead of the regular legislative election. The current president of the Senate is Bongbong Marcos, while Sara Duterte is the vice president.Influence of oligarchic clans on politics Philippine politics are dominated by oligarchic clans, who hold considerable economic and political power. These clans have prevented the country from making the necessary reforms toward democracy and a market economy. Even the president, Duterte, has failed to challenge these power structures and has even used these to his advantage. However, this situation must change if Philippine politics are to undergo significant transformation.The rise of oligarchic clans in Philippine politics is not a recent phenomenon. The country was dominated by a few clans in the past, and these clans were able to consolidate their power base by creating new power networks. After the Japanese occupation, local strongmen reorganized themselves and created powerful client networks. In addition, they seized control of the military, which was once apolitical. Local warlords swept into power, and by 2000, one such warlord was able to seize control of the national state.Although Philippine society is very poor, the oligarchic clans have significant social capital. They dominate local and national politics. As a result, elections are dominated by individuals and families with political interests. In addition, the country's political system is susceptible to electoral fraud and corruption. In addition to the political influence of oligarchic clans, the Philippine military, Catholic Church, and the United States are heavily involved in Philippine politics.Growing authoritarianism under Rodrigo Duterte Duterte's era has marked a profound decline in human rights and civil liberties. His brutal campaign against drugs and illegal immigrants, often carried out by vigilante groups, has increased police power and political influence. His anti-drug measures have also reduced freedom of speech and led to the deaths of opposition activists.In spite of the Philippines' formal democracy and separation of powers, the Philippines has become increasingly authoritarian. President Rodrigo Duterte presents his rule as based on the principle of law and order, and has undermined checks and balances. His actions against the Senate and the Supreme Court have also increased his power.Although Duterte's administration has attempted to address these problems, it has not succeeded in doing so. It has also failed to implement many of the reforms required for a democracy and a market economy. This is largely due to the oligarchic nature of the government, and the inability of the Duterte administration to challenge the dominance of family clans.Need for infrastructure improvements The Philippines faces a number of challenges when it comes to infrastructure development. For example, the Philippines lacks the adequate financial resources to undertake large infrastructure projects. In addition, there are several challenges associated with public expenditure management. Moreover, the country's poor coordination among agencies limits the effectiveness of infrastructure projects. For these reasons, the Philippines must increase public participation and improve efficiency of government spending on infrastructure projects. The government can also encourage private sector participation by developing domestic capital markets.Investments in infrastructure will boost the country's economic growth and improve the lives of ordinary citizens. For instance, better roads and internet services will allow farmers to sell their products and raise the living standards of rural people. Improved infrastructure will also reduce costs of doing business and improve productivity. In addition, these investments will help the country compete in the global market.Improved infrastructure is crucial for the Philippines to achieve inclusive growth. It will help promote business, trade, and job creation, as well as alleviate poverty. There are several reforms that will be needed in order to achieve these goals. Infrastructure development in the Philippines marks an exciting phase of the country's development. This investment is a critical step towards bringing more Filipinos out of poverty.

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Early response to COVID-19 in the Philippines

Arianna maever l. amit.

a College of Medicine, University of the Philippines Manila, Manila, Philippines.

b School of Medicine and Public Health, Ateneo de Manila University, Pasig City, Philippines.

Veincent Christian F. Pepito

Manuel m. dayrit.

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with weak health systems are especially vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we describe the challenges and early response of the Philippine Government, focusing on travel restrictions, community interventions, risk communication and testing, from 30 January 2020 when the first case was reported, to 21 March 2020. Our narrative provides a better understanding of the specific limitations of the Philippines and other LMICs, which could serve as basis for future action to improve national strategies for current and future public health outbreaks and emergencies.

The Philippine health system and the threat of public health emergencies

Despite improvements during the past decade, the Philippines continues to face challenges in responding to public health emergencies because of poorly distributed resources and capacity. The Philippines has 10 hospital beds and six physicians per 10 000 people. ( 1 , 2 ) and only about 2335 critical care beds nationwide. ( 3 ) The available resources are concentrated in urban areas, and rural areas have only one physician for populations up to 20 000 people and only one bed for a population of 1000. ( 4 ) Disease surveillance capacity is also unevenly distributed among regions and provinces. The primary care system comprises health centres and community health workers, but these are generally ill-equipped and poorly resourced, with limited surge capacity, as evidenced by lack of laboratory testing capacity, limited equipment and medical supplies, and lack of personal protective equipment for health workers in both primary care units and hospitals. ( 5 ) Local government disaster preparedness plans are designed for natural disasters and not for epidemics.

Inadequate, poorly distributed resources and capacity nationally and subnationally have made it difficult to respond adequately to public health emergencies in the past, as in the case of typhoon Haiyan in 2013. ( 6 ) The typhoon affected 13.3 million people, overwhelming the Government’s capacity to mobilize human and financial resources rapidly to affected areas. ( 7 ) Failure to deliver basic needs and health services resulted in disease outbreaks, including a community outbreak of gastroenteritis. ( 8 ) Access to care has improved in recent years due to an increase in the number of private hospital beds; ( 5 ) however, improvements in private sector facilities mainly benefit people who can afford them, in both urban and rural areas.

In this paper, we describe the challenges and early response of the Philippine Government, focusing on travel restrictions, community interventions, risk communication and testing, from 30 January 2020 when the first case was reported, to 21 March 2020.

Early response to COVID-19

Travel restrictions.

Travel restrictions in the Philippines were imposed as early as 28 January, before the first confirmed case was reported on 30 January ( Fig. 1a ). ( 9 ) After the first few COVID-19 cases and deaths, the Government conducted contact tracing and imposed additional travel restrictions, ( 10 ) with arrivals from restricted countries subject to 14-day quarantine and testing. While travel restrictions in the early phase of the COVID-19 response prevented spread of the disease by potentially infected people, travellers from countries not on the list of restricted countries were not subject to the same screening and quarantine protocols. The restrictions were successful in delaying the spread of the disease only briefly, as the number of confirmed cases increased in the weeks that followed. ( 11 ) Fig. 1b shows all interventions, including travel restrictions undertaken before 6 March, when the Government declared the occurrence of community spread, and after 11 March, when WHO declared COVID-19 a pandemic.

New cases of COVID-19 in the Philippines, 30 January–21 March 2020

[ insert Figure 1a ]

Timeline of key events and developments in the Philippines, 30 January–21 March 2020

[ insert Figure 1b ]

Community interventions

The Government declared “enhanced community quarantine” (ECQ) for Metro Manila between 15 March and 14 April ( Fig. 2a ), which was subsequently extended to the whole island of Luzon ( Fig. 2b ). The quarantine consisted of: strict home quarantine in all households, physical distancing, suspension of classes and introduction of work from home, closure of public transport and non-essential business establishments, prohibition of mass gatherings and non-essential public events, regulation of the provision of food and essential health services, curfews and bans on sale of liquor and a heightened presence of uniformed personnel to enforce the quarantine procedures. ( 12 ) ECQ – an unprecedented move in the country’s history – was modelled on the lockdown in Hubei, China, which was reported to have slowed disease transmission. ( 13 ) Region-wide disease control interventions, such as quarantining of the entire Luzon island, were challenging to implement because of their scale and social and economic impacts, but they were deemed necessary to “flatten the curve” so that health systems were not overwhelmed. ( 14 ) While the lockdown implemented by the Government applied only to the island of Luzon, local governments in other parts of the country followed this example and also locked down. The ECQ gave the country the opportunity to mobilize resources and organize its pandemic response, which was especially important in a country with poorly distributed, scarce resources and capacity.

Provinces placed under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). (2a) The Government declared ECQ in Metro Manila effective 15 March 2020; (2b) The Government declared ECQ on the entire island of Luzon effective 17 March 2020.

[ insert Figure 2 ]

Risk communication

The Government strengthened and implemented national risk communication plans to provide information on the new disease. The Government conducted daily press briefings, sponsored health-related television and Internet advertisements and circulated infographics on social media. Misinformation and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 were nevertheless a challenge for a population that spends more than 10 hours a day on the Internet. ( 15 , 16 ) These spread quickly and became increasingly difficult to correct. Furthermore, the Government’s messages did not reach all households, despite access to health services and information, resulting in limited knowledge of preventive practices, except for hand-washing. ( 17 )

Testing is key to controlling the pandemic but was done on a small scale in the Philippines. As of 19 March, fewer than 1200 individuals had been tested, ( 11 ) as only the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine located in Metro Manila performed tests and assisted subnational reference laboratories in testing. ( 18 ) No positivity rates for RT–PCR tests were reported until early April 2020. Because of the limited capacity for testing at the start of the pandemic, the Department of Health imposed strict protocols to ration testing resources while ramping up testing capacity. Most tests were conducted for individuals in urban areas, where the incidence was highest. ( 19 )

Conclusions

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the country’s initial response lacked organizational preparedness to counter the public health threat. The Philippines’ disease surveillance system could conduct contact tracing, but this was overwhelmed in the early phases of outbreak response. Similarly, in February, only one laboratory could conduct reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR) testing, so the country could not rapidly deploy extensive laboratory testing for infected cases. In addition, the primary care system of the Philippines did not serve as a primary line of defence, as people went straight to hospitals in urban areas, overwhelming critical care capacity in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In response to the early phase of the pandemic, the Government of the Philippines implemented travel restrictions, community quarantine, risk communication and testing; however, the slow ramping up of capacities particularly on testing contributed to unbridled disease transmission. By 15 October, the number of confirmed cases had exponentially grown to 340 000 of which 13.8% were deemed active. ( 11 ) The lack of pandemic preparedness had left the country poorly defended against the new virus and its devastating effects. Investing diligently and consistently in pandemic preparedness, surveillance and testing capacity in particular is a lesson that the Philippines and other LMICs should learn from COVID-19.

Acknowledgements

Conflict of interests.

None reported

Not applicable

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A brief essay on my key issues book: the philippines: from earliest times to the present.

My AAS Key Issues in Asian Studies book— The Philippines: From Earliest Times to the Present —is intended to introduce readers to a nation originally named after a European prince. The people of the archipelago that now constitutes the Philippines had a long history before any European contact occurred. Since the latter part of the nineteenth century, Filipinos have experienced a wide range of encounters with the US. The Philippines was Asia’s first republic and then became a US colony after an American war of conquest and pacification, which some argue resulted in the deaths of 10 percent of the population. Almost a million Filipino soldiers and civilians, and approximately 23,000 American military, died in the war against Imperial Japanese forces.

There are at least two ideas that drive this book. The first is that the Philippines was not some isolated archipelago that was accidentally “discovered” by Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Some residents of the Philippines had contact with “the outside world” long before European contact through trade with other Southeast Asian polities and Imperial China.

The second and more important theme is that vibrant cultures existed before outsiders arrived, and they have continued throughout the history of the Philippines, though perhaps not seen or simply ignored by historians and other scholars. The intrusion by the Spaniards might be seen to have changed almost everything, as did the American incursion, and to a lesser extent the Japanese occupation. This is not the case. But if one does not know what was there before, the focus may be upon the intruders—their religion, culture, economies, and the impact they had on the local population—rather than on Filipinos, the local inhabitants. While acknowledging the impact and influence of foreign occupations, I sought in the book to focus on Filipinos and to see them as not merely, or even primarily, reactive.

Beginning with the pre-Hispanic period, The Philippines: From Earliest Times to the Present seeks to present, briefly, the reality of an advanced indigenous culture certainly influenced but not erased by more than three centuries of Spanish occupation. The second half of the nineteenth century saw the emergence on two levels—peasants and elite—of organized resistance to that presence, culminating in what some call a revolution and finally a republic. But this development was cut short by the Americans. When a commonwealth was put in place during the fourth decade of American rule, this was interrupted by World War II and the Japanese occupation. After World War II, the Philippines once again became an independent republic with the growing pains of a newly evolving democracy and its share of ups and down, including the Marcos dictatorship.

The Philippines has emerged in the twenty-first century with a robust and expanding economy, and as an important member of ASEAN. And it has its issues. On November 7, 2013, the most powerful Philippine typhoon on record hit the central part of the archipelago, resulting in more than 6,000 deaths. President Rodrigo Duterte, elected in 2016, has caught the eye of human rights advocates as he has dealt harshly with a drug problem that is far more significant than most realized. Then there is the ongoing conflict with China over islands in the South China Sea. The Philippines has been and will continue to be in the news.

The Philippines: From Earliest Times to the Present depicts Filipinos as not passive or merely the recipients of foreign influences. Contrary to the title of Stanley Karnow’s 1989 book, In Our Image: America’s Empire in the Philippines, the Philippines is not made in anyone’s, including America’s, image. Teachers and students should find this book helpful, not only in dealing with the history of the Philippines but also in recognizing that often the histories of developing countries fail to seriously take into account the local population—their culture, their actions, their vision of the world. The Philippines is perhaps best known today in the West as a place with beautiful beaches and as a wonderful place to vacation. This book will show it to be much more than that.

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Foundation of the Philippine Government

How it works

Every country in the whole world had experienced to be the subject of colonizers, one example of it is the Philippines. When a country is at the hands of colonizers which causes sufferings, death, oppressions, and such to the inhabitants in the country in which the colonizers conquered, it is undeniable that there was no person or group of people who tried to win liberty and independence from their own motherland. In the Philippines, the ilustrados, namely Dr. Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, and Marcelo H.

del Pilar are the ones who fought for our independence and contribute to the development of our nation. They gave knowledge about the things that are happening in our country during their time through their written works like Graciano Lopez-Jaena’s “Fray Botod” wherein he exposed the abusive powers of the Friars. Next is the “Monastic Supremacy” by Marcelo del Pilar which is the causes of misfortunes of the Filipino people and lastly, Dr. Jose Rizal’s political ideas in his two essays,- “The Indolence of the Filipinos” and “The Philippines a Century Hence”,- other works such as “Letter to the Young Women of Malolos” wherein he addresses his satisfaction and joy over the battle of the women against Spaniards in which they fought and he also addressed the qualities that a woman must have and lastly, his famous two novels, Noli and El Fili which serves as a theory and a political action. All of their ideas in their written works expanded the idea of a Philippine nation and became the foundations of the Katipunero’s revolution to fight for our independence. The ilustrados also strove to awaken the sleeping intellect of the Spaniard to the needs of our country and to create a closer, more equal association of the islands and the motherland. The theory of the Filipino nation was made because of all the things stated above but it was not successful because there was a revolution that happened.

The ilustrados/ propagandists wanted the Philippines to become the province of Spain through peaceful and gradual change unlike the Katipuneros goal which is independence through a revolution. According to Dolan, the specific goals of the ilustrados were representation of the Philippines in the Cortes, or Spanish parliament; secularization of the clergy; legalization of Spanish and Filipino equality; creation of a public school system independent of the friars; abolition of the polo (labor service) and vandala (forced sale of local products to the government); guarantee of basic freedoms of speech and association; and equal opportunity for Filipinos and Spanish to enter government service (1991). We could clearly see that fighting for the rights and equality of the Filipino people by the ilustrados is through peaceful means in which there is no shedding of blood.

First, we could trace this in Graciano Lopez-Jaena’s “Fray Botod”. In this written work, he discriminated a friar by describing its physical features (plump, devil, seal, chubby-cheecked, barbarian), its attitudes and the way the said friar, Botod, lives. He also narrated that the women are just servants of the friars but the main topic of his work focuses on Botod, who abuses his power by doing a mass for a funeral by asking a fee that is unreasonable, not doing a confession to a man because he is playing cards, and repeatedly saying during his sermons that he went here in our land to conquer souls for heaven in order to be dear to great Fr. San Agustin. Aside from this, Botod was also described as a friar who will not hesitate to gave punishment to those persons who is not doing good in his eyes like the old man who did not work in the hacienda who were punished to have 150 lashes to his body, removed his clothes and underwear while his head and feet was tied to a chair and then pouring hot peppered vinegar in his body. If we will analyze this work of Graciano, we could see that he is targeting the friars and blaming the whole system. According to Peraz, during Gracianos’s time, friars become powerful and abuses among the Filipinos took place as stated. Foreclosure of mortgages and outright land grabbing were frequent. Abuses made by the friars among his constituents/ flock were observable. The secularization of the parishes also became an issue since the regulars won’t give up their parishes to the Filipino seculars (2007).

Second, the written work of Marcelo H. del Pilar entitled “Monastic Supremacy” also tackles the friars here in the Philippines. Del Pilar illustrated the problems here in our country because of the friars who interfered to the government in the Philippines wherein they were able to control everything. The religious aspect part of this work of Marcelo stated that the performance of their duties, the municipal officials depend on the parish priest. In economic aspect, the government refrains from creating new sources of revenue in order not to burden Filipino interests, but the friars invent every day new forms of devotion, some very costly, and the public pay, not because of fanaticism, but rather, for fear of displeasing the friars whose power they know has sent many innocent victims to exile and in addition, taxes was imposed by the Spanish government (Alzona, 1957). The thing that really marked to my mind about Marcelo’s peaceful change is his statement, “for our part, we desire nothing more than strengthening of fraternal ties between Spain and the Philippines” and with this, we could see what the author really wanted. By contrasting this work to Graciano, Marcelo’s ideas are straight to the point or direct because in “Fray Botod”, Graciano made characters in a story type written work wherein there was a friar who is doing evil things which is opposed to his position as the one who tells the words of God.

Lastly, we could trace that the ilustrados wanted the assimilation of the Philippines as a province of Spain aside from the things stated above in Jose Rizal’s essay, “The Indolence of the Filipinos” and “The Philippines a Century Hence”. In “The Indolence of the Filipinos”, he explained the alleged idleness of the Filipino people during the colonization of the Spaniards and that is because of the climate (since we are a tropical climate, it requires a person to rest); next is the Spanish colonization (the Spaniards influenced us to become indolent wherein they will not do their duties and responsibilities correctly and they will work late then go home early); and because of our own fault which is the continuation of indolence because of lack of training and lack of national sentiment. In his work “The Philippines a Century Hence”, he forecasted the future of the country within a hundred years. He started this essay by analyzing the various causes of the miseries suffered by the Filipino people: the Spain’s implementation of her military policies; deterioration and disappearances of Filipino indigenous culture; and passivity and submissiveness to the Spanish colonizers. In this work also, he forecasted that it depends on the situation whether the Spaniards could still hold us or not. If the answer to this is yes wherein the Spaniards could still hold us, reforms should be done and that is by giving freedom of the press and having a Filipino representative in the Spanish Cortes while if the answer is no, revolution will happen. Either yes or no, independence could still achieve according to Jose Rizal. He also forecasted that there would be a new conqueror aside from the Spaniards, and that is the Americans which came true. In his other work which is the “Letter to the Young Women of Malolos”, he expressed his joy and satisfaction because of the fighting spirit of the young women of Malolos who fought for their desire to learn. He also expressed everything that he wishes to all kinds of woman (wives, mothers, unmarried) to keep in mind like the being a noble wife, rearing her children in the service of the state like the quality of a Spartan mother, setting standards of behavior for men around her, and etc. He added in this work that women are blindly obedient to the friars because of two reasons. First is being ignorant and the last one is because of fear.

Those works made by Graciano, Marcelo, and Jose Rizal had exposed the defects of Spanish rule in the Philippines and the urgency of reforms to remedy them by waging their movement through their pen which expanded the idea of a Philippine nation wherein they are the ones who opened the eyes of the Filipinos in order to make an end to the wrongdoings of the Spaniards as well as the rise of nationalism. If they did not do those works, there would be no one who would initiate to free ourselves from the hands of those who try to hold and control us. Without them, we will not be able to have our independence and we will not attain the things that we have now. According to Dr. Ma. Luisa T. Camagay, well-known historian and professor at UP Diliman, “we owe to the Filipino ilustrados a compilation and analysis of the elements that builds our nation’s knowledge”. In her research, “Kaalamang Bayan: Balon ng Kaalaman ng mga Ilustradong Filipino,” she said this was the way to inform Spaniards that Filipinos had a culture or civilization before they came. Through the help of the ilustrados, people’s knowledge developed wherein we were able to identify who we really are as a Tagalog and later became a Filipino (Jadloc, 2017).

All written works of the propagandists stated above was under La Solidaridad which is a civic organization aimed at uniting the archipelago which protects the people at the same time. Rizal, del Pilar and Lopez-Jaena’s works were under La Solidaridad which became the platform for intelligent discourse on economic, cultural, political, and social conditions of the country (Geni, 2020) that is why their political ideas could be found here. Graciano’s written work aimed to increase the awareness of the Spanish of the needs of its colony which is the Philippines then it was followed by Marcelo’s written work which also targeted the whole system in order to have equal ties between them as stated in the previous page same with Rizal. The most evident political idea could be found in Rizal’s work which is Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo because these works were based from his personal experiences and he depicted the conditions of Spanish rule in the islands, particularly the abuses of the friars. In addition, as stated by our professor, Mr. Paul Micah Francisco, the Noli is the theory of Rizal while the El Fili symbolizes the political action. Aside from this, Rizal’s works are the main ideas of enlightenment: the advancement of individual liberty, social progress, tolerance, scientific knowledge, constitutional government, and separation of church and state (Dolan, 1991).

Those written work of the ilustrados helped the construction of a Filipino nation which paved way to a groundbreaking political ideas that have moved our nation to change. One example of it is that, we, Filipinos, is bound together by certain characteristics such as common social origin, language, customs, traditions, and who believed that we are distinct from others (De Leon & De Leon, 2014). As a consequence, we would really appreciate and love who we are. We would also become more strong and mindful about the things that we do for our country. For short, nationalism will flourish. Another example is having independence. Since we are an independent nation, we are considered a state which consists of four basic elements: people, territory, government and sovereignty. “A state is a community of persons more or less numerous, permanently occupying a definite portion of territory, having a government of their own to which the great body of inhabitants render obedience, and enjoying freedom from external control” (De Leon & De Leon, 2014). Considering that we are a state, we could see how it goes wherein there is an institution who will carry out the functions and objectives of the government which is based from the will of the people and which is based from what is right for the common good like providing education, health services, policies, economic advancement, safety, security and many more.

In order to know why the ilustrados was not successful in constructing the Filipino nation, we need to go back to the explanations given in the previous pages and that is the traces from the written works of Graciano, Marcelo, and Rizal. The ilustrados goal is to have a peaceful and gradual change unlike the revolution made by the members of the Kataas-taasang, Kagalang-galangang Katipunan ng mga Anak ng Bayan also known as KKK which resulted to a bloody war. The written works of the ilustrados especially the works of Jose Rizal was the way that awakened the minds of some Filipino people, like Andres Bonifacio, especially about Filipino nationalism. Andres Bonifacio was born in an era when the natives were considered Indios and the Spanish friars were believed to be God’s representative on earth. He observed that the Filipinos during his time were not free and the Spanish government and the Catholic Church enslaved them (GOVPH, 2012). When Filipino nationalism arose because of the great efforts of the ilustrados to awaken their countrymen, Bonifacio reinterpreted some works of Rizal like Mi Ultimo Adios (Huling Paalam) in order for the people to understand it because it was originally written in Spanish. Andres was determined to achieve our independence. He had an intention of rising up in arms against the government so he and his compatriots founded the Katipunan on July 7, 1892 when Rizal was to be deported to Dapitan (Mañebog, 2013). Bonifacio’s braveness and courage to make uprisings against Spaniards made him the “father of Philippine revolution”.

The main reason why revolution happened is that, the ilustrados was not successful to achieve reforms. The colonial government did not agree to their demands. Spain itself was undergoing a lot of internal problems all that time, which could explain why the mother country failed to heed the Filipino’s petitions. The friars, on the other hand, were at the height of their power and displayed even more arrogance in flaunting their influence. They had neither the time nor the desire to listen to the voice of the people (Philippine History, 2020). Other than this, instead of having “oneness”, the ilustrados were not united because of misunderstandings between them. The reformists showed a deep love for their country, although they still failed to maintain a united front because most of them belonged to the upper middle class, they had to exercise caution in order to safeguard their wealth and other private interests. Personal differences and petty quarrels, apart from the lack of funds, were also a hindrance to the movements success (Philippine History, 2020). The Katipuneros were also divided especially when Bonifacio died. With these simple scenarios from the Katipuneros and ilustrados, the ideas of “oneness” were not evident, how much more if they will create a Filipino nation.

Beside this, although we won to overthrow the Spaniards, the Americans intervened that is why there was an unfinished revolution. Instead of building our nation from our own understanding, own interpretation of development, and other things that we have now have foreign influence. An example of this is our government. Our government is derived from the general nature of American governmental institutions like separation of the Church from the State which is one of the prime characteristics of the American government (Kalaw, 1948). Another example are the words which we usually say without knowing whether we have a Filipino translation about it like the word “ballpen” and “x-ray”. With those simple examples, I really think that the ilustrados was not successful in building a Filipino nation because all things that are existing until this day have foreign influences. Honestly, as a Filipino citizen, my patriotism comes out by being proud of my country when there is a large gathering like the sea games, supporting my fellow citizen in pageants, games and the like, but if I were to ask to choose between important and local products, I would more likely to choose the imported ones and due to this, the things that Rizal, Jaena and del Pilar did to awaken Filipino nationalism had failed.

The last but the most important reason for me why the ilustrados was not successful in constructing a Filipino nation is because of the assimilation of the Philippines as a province of Spain. The ilustrados wanted reforms like what stated in the previous pages is the equal status of the Filipinos and Spaniards, human rights of the Filipinos, secularization of the clergy, and many more. Although the ideas of the ilustrados helped to give informations about our history during their time which also contributed to the changes here in our nation as well as giving us the idea of “oneness” and emphasizing the importance of being a Filipino by awakening nationalism, they failed to create a “Filipino” nation because if they really want to construct a “Filipino” nation, the very first thing that they will do is on how the Philippines could be free from the hands of the Spaniards, and not as a province of Spain. Again, even though we won to overthrow the Spaniards, they were replaced by the Americans which influenced us in many aspects of our lives so whether the ilustrados had achieved their reforms, there would still no “Filipino” nation because Spaniards still control us. The one that we could achieved if this happen is freedom and not a Filipino nation.

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Essay on Inflation In Philippines

Students are often asked to write an essay on Inflation In Philippines in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Inflation In Philippines

What is inflation.

Inflation means the prices of things we buy are going up. In the Philippines, when prices rise, it becomes harder for people to afford food, clothes, and other items. This can happen when there’s too much money to spend but not enough goods, or when the cost to make products goes higher.

Inflation in the Philippines

The Philippines often experiences inflation. This can be due to natural disasters affecting crops, changes in global oil prices, or government actions. When inflation occurs, Filipino families might struggle to buy what they need, which can be tough for everyone.

Effects on Daily Life

Because of inflation, families in the Philippines might have to change how they spend money. They may buy less food or cheaper items to save money. Sometimes, even going to school or getting healthcare can become more expensive, making life challenging for many people.

250 Words Essay on Inflation In Philippines

Understanding inflation in the philippines.

Inflation means the increase in prices of things we buy, like food, clothes, and toys. In the Philippines, just like in other countries, prices can go up over time. This can make life hard for families, especially if they don’t have a lot of money.

Causes of Inflation

In the Philippines, inflation can happen for many reasons. Sometimes, if there’s a problem with growing food or if there’s a big storm, there might not be enough of it, and this can make prices go up. Also, if the money in the Philippines becomes less valuable compared to other countries’ money, things that come from other countries can become more expensive.

Effects of Inflation

When prices go up, it’s tough for people. They might not be able to buy as much with their money, and this can be stressful. Parents might have to work more to earn more money, and sometimes, kids might not get new toys or clothes as often.

What the Government Does

The government in the Philippines tries to control inflation. They can change how much money is in the economy or make rules about prices to help keep them from going up too fast. They do this because they want to make sure that people can afford what they need.

Inflation in the Philippines is a challenge that affects everyone. It’s important to understand why it happens and how it changes the way people live. While it can be tough when prices go up, the government works to manage inflation for the good of the country.

500 Words Essay on Inflation In Philippines

Inflation is when the prices of things we buy go up. Imagine you could buy a toy car for one peso last year, but this year the same car costs two pesos. That’s inflation: the money you have buys less than before. This can happen with toys, food, clothes, and almost everything. In the Philippines, like in many countries, inflation affects how people live because they need more money to buy the same things.

Causes of Inflation in the Philippines

In the Philippines, inflation happens for a few reasons. Sometimes, when there are not enough goods like rice or vegetables, prices go up because many people want these items but there aren’t enough for everyone. This is called “demand-pull inflation.” Another reason is “cost-push inflation,” which is when the cost to make products goes up. For example, if the price of gas increases, it costs more to deliver goods to stores, so the prices of these goods go up.

Also, when the money value in the Philippines goes down compared to other countries’ money, things we buy from other countries become more expensive. This is known as “imported inflation.”

Effects of Inflation on People

Inflation can make life hard for families. Parents have to spend more money on the same things, so they might have less money left for saving or for fun activities. Kids might notice that their allowance doesn’t buy as much candy or toys as it used to. If inflation is high, people might worry about prices going up even more and rush to buy things, which can make inflation worse.

How the Government Handles Inflation

The government of the Philippines tries to control inflation to make sure prices don’t rise too fast. The Central Bank of the Philippines can change interest rates, which is like changing the cost of borrowing money. If it’s more expensive to borrow money, people and businesses might spend less, and this can help slow down inflation.

The government can also use policies to help make sure there is enough supply of goods. For example, they can encourage farmers to grow more rice or make it easier for stores to get products from other countries when there’s not enough supply in the Philippines.

What Can People Do?

People can also do things to handle inflation. Families can plan their spending and look for better prices before buying something. It’s important to learn about money and how to use it wisely, especially when prices are going up.

Inflation in the Philippines is when prices rise and money buys less. It can be caused by not enough goods, higher costs to make products, or the country’s money value changing. Inflation affects how people live, but the government and people can take steps to manage it. By understanding what inflation is and how it works, even school students can be better prepared to deal with it in their daily lives.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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