Philippine Democracy Online

By Christopher Ryan Maboloc, PhD For most Filipinos, Manila evokes images of high rise structures, elite schools, flyovers and a very horrendous traffic situation, while Mindanao is often associated with the Moro rebellion, the rural life and indeed, massive poverty. But as the research of Asuna Yoshizawa and Wataru Kusaka shows, there is actually cooperation between Christians and Muslims in their everyday life. A modern myth identifies EDSA and the Aquinos with freedom and democracy, but in view of his radicalism, President Duterte with unfounded insinuations of tyranny.  When Walden Bello described how fascism emerged in Europe, he mentioned Hitler and Mussolini. Yet, the book of Michael Wildt tells us that racial exclusion was prevalent as early as 1911. In Hitler's Volksgemeinschaft and the Dynamics of Racial Exclusion, Wildt argues that rural villages were practicing racial prejudice, long before the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany. None of that sort exists in the countr...

Gerry Flores Arambala Chairperson Philosophy Department La Salle University - Ozamiz         Christopher Ryan Maboloc, the main proponent of the theory of radical democracy in the Philippines, explains that the Spanish colonial regime did not only exploit the Filipino people through unfair taxes and hard labor, but also by elevating the chosen elites called principales to rule the masses (Maboloc 2019). “The elite among Filipinos who benefited from foreign rule are the ones who have hastened the subjugation of the islands” (Maboloc 2019).   Maboloc writes that such “patronage system is not a modern-day phenomenon. It can be traced back to the administration of Spanish authorities, which can be summed up as the politics of exclusion” (Maboloc 2019). Such type of politics, echoing Hotchcroft and Rocamora (2003), characterizes the logic of Philippine democracy. What that means is that, politics is monopolized by the few elites and the oligarchs of the country, w...

In his “Inaugural Address” at Freiburg, Martin Heidegger writes that “metaphysical inquiry must be posed as a whole and from the essential position of the existence of a man that questions.” This form of questioning goes beyond logic and the objective certainty of the empirical sciences. It is a method of thinking that seeks to overhaul two millennia of philosophical toil and discourse. Yet, Heidegger’s eloquence, while making manifest the grandeur of esoteric thought, actually finds no resonance in the social and political conflict that engulfs the world. Heidegger was politically naïve when it comes to his philosophical theories. In the same way as history is written by the victors of war, the experience and meaning of human life is also being defined by those who think they are in a position to say things as they please. In fact, the idea is simple. Since we are inclined to believe someone on the basis of his background, we think that this individual has the right to descri...

By Gerry F. Arambala Chairperson, Philosophy Department La Salle University, Ozamiz City Discussions on President Rodrigo Duterte's radical politics are heating up among young scholars in the South. The works of Patricio Abinales, Heidi K. Gloria, and Reynaldo Ileto provide the historical context. Dr. Christopher Ryan Maboloc, who is recognized by Dr. Julio Teehankee as the first to use Chantal Mouffe's agonistic politics in interpreting the rise to power of President Duterte, is cited by the likes of Wataru Kusaka, Karl Gaspar, and Fr. Jose Mario Francisco, SJ. Dr. Maboloc, who teaches philosophy at Ateneo de Davao University, argues that the contested nature of politics in the country can be traced to the unjust structures of post-colonial Philippine society.  In a recent talk, Prof. Menelito Mansueto of Letran suggested that non-dominant narratives have been silenced after EDSA. In an online article, UP Cebu Prof. Regletto Imbong wrote a critical but fair comment on Maboloc...