may be developing these days. Three times I think the development of a civilization was interrupted, by three respective foreign powers: Spain, the United States, and Japan. Let us look:
- The area around Manila was a bustling hub of trade, on the way to a civilization. Legazpi interrupted this in 1571.
- Bonifacio and especially his thinker Jacinto attempted to re-establish Katagalugan. Even Aguinaldo often listened to thinker Mabini. But the USA had other plans.
- Manuel Quezon built the foundations of the present Republic. His code of ethics (link) was based on Mabini’s decalogue. Then came World War 2 and only his foundations remained, the rest burned down with Old Manila.
The present Philippines often looks more like a chiefdom (link) than a civilization: A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or ‘houses’. Pre-Hispanic Philippine society was a collection of chiefdoms, described by Laura Lee Junker in her book “Raiding, Trading and Feasting – The Political Economy of Philippine Chiefdoms” (link) while Alfred McCoy describes the postwar Philippines as “An Anarchy of Families” and Benedict Anderson describes the system as “Cacique Democracy”. The development of the families that formed the postwar ruling class – names like Roxas, Aquino, Osmeña come to mind – from 1780 onwards, especially with the lucrative sugar business (tobacco and abaca did not give that much of long-term foundation) show how mestizos and migrants became modern versions of datus.
Attributes of Chiefdoms
Looking at the attributes oF chiefdoms, one recognizes many aspects of Filipino political and social life. Some excerpts from the Wikipedia link above:
- Chiefdoms are characterized by centralization of authority and pervasive inequality. At least two inherited social classes (elite and commoner) are present. (The ancient Hawaiian chiefdoms had as many as four social classes.) ABCDE classes.
- An individual might change social class during a lifetime by extraordinary behavior. A single lineage/family of the elite class becomes the ruling elite of the chiefdom, with the greatest influence, power, and prestige. Jejomar Binay and his family.
- A single simple chiefdom is generally composed of a central community surrounded by or near a number of smaller subsidiary communities. All of the communities recognize the authority of a single kin group or individual with hereditary centralized power, dwelling in the primary community. Each community will have its own leaders, which are usually in a tributary and/or subservient relationship to the ruling elite of the primary community. Duterte, his family, and his vice-mayors from different tribes within Davao City.
- A complex chiefdom is a group of simple chiefdoms controlled by a single paramount center, and ruled by a paramount chief. Complex chiefdoms have two or even three tiers of political hierarchy. The Liberal Party and its respective Governors and Mayors. The OIC mayors that Cory Aquino appointed. Duterte and Binay got their “simple chiefdoms” from Cory.
- The higher members of society consume most of the goods that are passed up the hierarchy as a tribute. Reciprocal obligations are fulfilled by the nobles carrying out rituals that only they can perform. They may also make token, symbolic redistributions of food and other goods. I do not live in Makati. No cake from the Binays for me. I am sad.
There are traditional Filipino nationalists who glorify chiefdoms, and modernizers who do not like them. There is one important aspect of chiefdoms mentioned in the link that is significant:
Anthropologists and archaeologists have demonstrated through research that chiefdoms are a relatively unstable form of social organization. They are prone to cycles of collapse and renewal, in which tribal units band together, expand in power, fragment through some form of social stress, and band together again.
Sounds like the shifting alliances of Philippine politics to me. Even before this has happened. Some Filipinos who served in the Spanish army against the Katipunan where in Aguinaldo’s Republic. Artemio Ricarte, Aguinaldo’s military commander before Heneral Luna, agitated against the USA but returned with the Japanese and formed a major role in forming the MAKAPILI movement which betrayed guerillas. Much like the Germanic peoples who allied with Romans, broke alliances, fought one another then banded together to invade Rome when it was weakened. Even the Holy Roman Empire had aspects of a chiefdom, the Emperor not an Imperator in the Roman sense, but a kind of paramount chief elected by German nobles. Which is why it was not as stable as France. One could also postulate that the Katipunan took advantage of a Spain weakened by the much longer-lasting and thorough Cuban revolution – Aguinaldo was easily bought in 1897.
Attributes of Civilization
According to Wikipedia, a civilization (link) is
any complex society characterized by urban development, social stratification, symbolic communication forms (typically, writing systems), and a perceived separation from and domination over the natural environment by a cultural elite. Civilizations are intimately associated with and often further defined by other socio-politico-economic characteristics, including centralization, the domestication of both humans and other organisms, specialization of labor, culturally ingrained ideologies of progress and supremacism, monumental architecture, taxation, societal dependence upon farming as an agricultural practice, and expansionism.
now is the Philippines not a civilization? Maybe it is based on that definition. But terms like “Imperial Manila”, “Inglisero” (a slightly pejorative term for the English-speaking elite) and “konyo” (a derogatory term for upper-class people) show that this possibly bogus civilization is still partly seen as foreign by many. Let us have a look at some developments:
- datus were co-opted by the Spaniards to form the principalia, who helped them rule the country. The conquering civilization was restricted to urban centers, especially Manila.
- from the 1780s onwards mestizos and migrants got rich especially in the sugar trade. Sources do show that especially in Pampanga, they ruled very much like datus in a patronage system.
- Increasing modernization from the 1860s onwards changed especially Manila (link) and there was for the first time an educated elite, the ilustrados who however mostly used Spanish.
- the revolution of 1896 and the subsequent Republic of Aguinaldo brought the principalia back into the forefront. Ilustrados like Heneral Luna were used as long as they were still needed.
- American rule gave an advantage to the Filipino business elite, democracy enabled them to be elected in their provinces which spoke different languages. They all spoke English in Manila.
Manuel Quezon, Aguinaldo’s former Lieutenant, was not from a rich family although he was the son of a Spanish soldier. He was a highly ethical man and put together a very modern state, with American backing. After the war the Filipino ruling class backtracked on many things. NP and LP together for example abolished divorce (link) in 1949. Sottocracy already existed way back then. And somehow civilization has backtracked even more until now. One must look at a few commonly known aspects of civilization to see this clearly:
- Landownership. The Lina law and the Rat’s Nest of Land Titles (link) show that this aspect of civilization is not really well-managed in the Philippines.
- Education. K-12 meets enormous resistance. Duterte wants to abolish algebra (link). The Katipunan, I read somewhere, had a library for its members!
- Literacy. Many people do not read anymore, just click on shared Facebook because of the picture or read just the first few words of an article or a meme.
- Money. People actually think that Binay can do what he did in Makati, even if it is financially absurd (link). Bank secrecy laws benefit just a few people (link).
- Laws. People are very willing to vote for Duterte even if he apparently wants to use extralegal means. Laws are often not followed, the justice system a mess (link).
Moving towards Civilization
There are three present candidates that I see moving towards civilization, each in their own distinct way:
- Mar Roxas gave major pushes to reforming the police and local governments. Bottom-Up-Budgeting replaces older systems based on favoritism by tying funds to responsibility.
- Rodrigo Duterte comes from the culture of Chiefdom but seems to want to be a God-King (link). A civilization might eventually evolve out of that, but not a democratic, modern one.
- Leni Robredo, who is favored by most Roxas supporters and many Duterte supporters, bridges the gap between civilization and chiefdom best. She represents a possible future.
The rest just represent plain old trapoism, that pernicious hybrid between chiefdom and bogus civilization. Even President Aquino has shown a few aspects of trapoism in this social evolution.
Irineo B. R. Salazar, München, 9 April 2016