Philippine

Values System
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Reported by: Judelyn Jamil- Escartin

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About the Author

Alfred Mccoy
 Professor of history at the University of Winsconsin-
Madison

 His dissertation at Yale is entitled “Ylo-ilo: Fictional

Conflict in a colonial Economy”

 His works were about Southeast Asia

Source: https://history.wisc.edu/people/faculty/mccoy.htm
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 “Recent decades have deepened a

central Philippine paradox. How and
why has this nation, a veritable lost
Eden- rich in natural resources, become
a very poor country with a very wealthy
oligarchy?” (p.1)
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 “The Philippines has a long history of

strong families assuring social survival
when the nation is weak”
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What is the Filipino Family?

 “Even a cursory survey of the country’s past

indicates that in the Philippines, as in many Latin
America settings, a weak state and powerful
political oligarchies have combined to make a
familial perspective on national history relevant.”
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What is the Filipino Family?

 After the independence in 1946, the Philippine

central government effectively lost control over
the countryside to regional politicians, some so
powerful that they become known as warlords.
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What is the Filipino Family?

 In Philippine politics a family name is a valuable

asset. Along with their land and capital, elite
families are often thought to transmit their
character and characteristics to younger
generations.
- Jeremy Beckett
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The State and the Family
 Practice of bilateral descent as a character of Filipino
kinship
 Basic social institution which public policy cherishes and
protects. (Civil Code, Art.216)
 Recognition of its sanctity, protect and strengthen as a basic
autonomous social institution
(Consti, Art.2 Sec. 12)
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Sociology definition of Family

 The Filipino family… protects its members

against all kinds of misfortunes since the good
name of the family has to be protected.
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 “The Filipino family… protects its

members against all kinds of
misfortunes since the good name of the
family has to be protected.”
- Cordero and Panopio, 1967
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Provides what the state and church
cannot: (Conrado Benitez, 1932)
 Employment and capital

 Education

 Medical care especially to the

handicapped and elderly
 Transmits its name, honor, land, capital
and values to the next generation
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Philippines as an anarchy of families
-(Robert Fox, 1959)

 Political parties, ie Regimes

 Private entities “There is a little separation

between the enterprise and the household…”
– Paul Hutchcroft, 1992)
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Filipino Family and Politics

 Family name is a valuable asset.

 Dynasty i.e.. Laurels, Osmeñas, Cojuancos,

Lopezes.
 Internal family battles can bear directly on the
country’s politics, ie Cojuangco split in 1946-47.
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 “…an established name carries cachet

and qualification, parties often favor a
promising scion of an old line when
selecting their candidates.”
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 “…the country’s elite were small, alien

element – either rural feudal landholders
or urban bourgeoisie.” (p.4)
- Jose Maria Sison
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The Elite Families

 Strong elite families and weak state.

 Leading actor in the unfolding of the national

pageant.
 Provided a strong element of continuity to the
country’s economic and social political history.
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 “…the strongest unit of society,

demanding the deepest loyalties of the
individual and coloring all social activity
with its own set of demands.” (p.1)
- Jean Grossholtz, 1964
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The Weak State

 Elite and state are engaged in a reciprocal

relationship.
 The emergence of powerful families through:

1. Rise of rents as a significant share of nation’s

economy and

2. A simultaneous reduction of central government’s

control over the provinces.
 Privatization of public resources.
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Kinship (p.9)

 Practice of bilateral descent is a central

characteristic of Filipino kinship.
 Bilateral kinship “produces overlapping,
egocentric networks,” fostering societies
“characterized by vagueness and
ambiguity if not by disorder.” (Jurg
Helbling)
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Kinship (p.9)

 “The Filipino type of kinship group is,

therefore a generational cooperate group
devoid of lineal or vertical continuity but
expanded horizontally within each
generation with ego as the central figure.”
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 “The state as it evolved out of the colonial

context, remains a weak apparatus for
development…enjoying little autonomy
from dominant social classes, the state is
captured by competing societal interests”
- Temario Rivera, 1991
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 Rise of warlord-ism to protect both business and

political.
 Crisologos of Ilocos Sur and Marcoses of Ilocos
Norte.
 Most political families fused local power with
national access. Indeed, many found that they
could not compete effectively in Manila for rents
unless they could deliver, by whatever means, a
substantial block of votes to national piliticians
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End!