1. Coronel, Shiela S., et al.

The Rulemakers: How the Wealthy and Well-born

Dominate Congress. Quezon City: Philippine Center for Investigative
Journalism, 2004. Print.
The books main contention is that the Philippine Congress is hardly representative
of the citizens (viii), describing that the past and present legislatures exhibit the
same feature as being strongholds of the wealthy, the powerful and the famous,
and have thus been political areas highly restricted to those comprising the upper
ladder of society. The book similarly surveys how much the legislators have been
getting from being long-time occupants of their seemingly exclusive senatorial and
congressional pews. As it documents both the changes in and the continuity of the
Philippine legislature (viii), this material presents a comprehensive investigation on
the kind of lawmakers the Philippines has and has had as well as on the type of
legislative body they have maneuvered and seemingly choose to perpetuate. The
full story of the actors behind the Philippine Congress and PCIJs critical assessment
of their legislative endeavors are organized in five chapters.
This book has been greatly helpful in evaluating the extent to which the legislators
understand and abide by the provisions of the Constitution concerning public office.
Though extremely alarming, the revelations in the book trigger an honest reflection
on the Constitution as well as validate the common observation that the countrys
elected officials contribute largely to the societys misery.
2. Gamer, Robert E. The Developing Nations: A Comparative Perspective.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1976. Print.
This book is composed of several parts: political development must be defined in
relation to human needs, notably the need for stable personal environment; while
developed nations are those which have survived modernization processes and reestablished such environments for most of their members, developing nations are
those where vast majorities experience suffering, exploitation, and alienation; these
countries are distinguished by external vulnerability to world markets and powers
and internal stagnation; their political systems, divorced from the main indigenous
social systems and inhabited merely by one small social system of businessmen,
bureaucrats and politicians, are commercialized in the form of patron-client
networks within which benefits flow mainly upwards and little goes downwards; of
several possible futures including revolution, which would restore balance and
stability to the lives of the masses in the south of the world, making it one option
which would abandon senseless modernization, reduce trade and increase selfsufficiency, stress preservation of resources and by all this restore the matching of
politics to the social whole.
Gamer painstakingly and interestingly compares this model with those of several of
the big men in the field including Apter, Huntington and Riggs. The works merits
are that its values are explicit, its argument provocative of thought, its illustrative

data evenly drawn from all relevant areas and covering a wide range of topics, its
language clear, unpretentious and free from jargon, making it a great source of
information for my research paper, helping determine and relate the said workings
of government in different parts of the world to our countrys own.

3. Philippines. Cong. Senate. An Act Prohibiting the Establishment of Political

Dynasties. 16th Cong. 1st Regular Sess. S. 1906. Metro Manila: Senate of the
Philippines, 2013. Legislative Documents. Web. 10 March 2015.
The Philippine Constitution was ratified in 1987, and it has now been 26 years since
this said constitutional ratification. But even after more than two decades, Congress
has failed to comply with its constitutional duty to pass a law defining and
prohibiting political dynasties. On the local level, this bill prohibits such relatives
from running for public office at the same time, within the same province, city or
municipality. The bill also covers situations where relatives occupy national positions
such as the House of Representatives and the Senate of the Philippines.
Concentration of political power today is no longer just local, but also national, most
likely because of the greater efficiency and nationalized impact of various systems
of information dissemination. The bill therefore covers situations where two or more
persons who are spouses or are related within the second civil degree of
consanguinity or affinity run simultaneously for elective local or national public
office within the same province, city or municipality, or same local or national office,
even if neither is so related to an incumbent elective local or national official. The
bill operates by allowing petitions for disqualification to be filed before the Comelec
whenever such prohibited situations are identified.
4. De Lima, Leila M. GOPAC Session 4: The Right to Information and Civil
Society Participation in the Fight Against, and Prevention of, Corruption. 5th
Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC) Global
Conference, Philippine International Convention Center, Pasay City, 01
February 2013. Metro Manila: Department of Justice, 2013. Speeches. Web.
10 March 2015.
De Lima stressed that the FOI law is a law that has long been awaited26 years
after the EDSA revolution which heralded a new constitution enshrining state
policies of transparency and accountability in the conduct of all public officials, but
still we have yet to fully realize this vision. The Freedom to Information Bill is a
proposed legislation that will concretize what has been enshrined in the Constitution
regarding the peoples right to have access to records, documents, and all other
official acts of the government as guaranteed in Sec tion7 of our Bill of Rights. In the
light of President Noynoy Aquinos presidential campaign being all about the daang
matuwid and the call for transparency and accountability, this law, must be
passed, as stated by Lima in her speech. The ouster of former Supreme Court

Justice Corona was all about the clamor of the people for members of the judiciary
to be transparent in the declaration of their assets and liabilities. The key
appointments made by President Aquino all rests on the idea of having people in
office who the people can trust and De Lima stresses that this law will simply
expand what the platform of the current administration is all about.
5. Philippines. Cong. Senate. An Act Implementing the People's Right to
Information and the Constitutional Policies of Full Public Disclosure and
Honesty in the Public Service and for Other Purposes. 16th Cong. 1st Regular
Sess. S. 1733. Metro Manila: Senate of the Philippines, 2013. Legislative
Documents. Web. 10 March 2015.
The Senate of the Philippines has filed their own version of the Access to
Information Act, which allows citizen access to government information, as a pillar
of the nations democracy. At the same time, the people must also appreciate that
certain limitations to the right of access to government information are reasonable
and compulsory for example, protecting the privacy of individual Filipinos and
sensitive matters of national defense, as described in Section 7 of the Act. Striking
the appropriate balance between openness and confidentiality in access reform is
an important part of this undertaking, which is why it is important to engage both
House and Senate Committees in deciding on the final bill before any reforms are
made.
By its very nature, the Access to Information Act is all about openness,
transparency, accessibility to Filipinos, and accountability. This will require a
thorough, open and inclusive process, with broad opportunity for Parliamentary and
public to engage in access, as described in Section 12 of the Act. Procedures for the
creation, management, disposal and archiving of documents and records, are also
described in detail under this Act. The Act emphasizes that public officials and
employees, in the performance of their duties under this Act, as well as citizens in
the exercise of their rights under this Act, should act with justice, and give everyone
his or her due, and observe honesty and good faith, because due compliance from
both the people and the government in requesting and disclosing information,
respectively, will truly define the success or failure of the Act once legislated.
6.
11.Mendoza, Ronald U., Edsel L. Beja, Victor S. Venida, and David B. Yap.
"Inequality in Democracy: Insights from an Empirical Analysis of Political
Dynasties in the 15th Philippine Congress." Philippine Political Science Journal
33.2 (2012): 132-45. Print.
This article presents metrics to estimate the size of political dynasties in the 15th
Congress of the Republic of the Philippines and analyze the relationship between

political dynasty and socio-economic outcomes. Laying out the dynastic landscape
in the Philippines, the article examines several questions. What is the share of
political dynasties in the current 15th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines?
What is the share of political dynasties in the major political parties in the Philippine
Congress? What is the pattern of gender distribution among political dynasties?
What is the age distribution of political dynasties in the current Congress? What is
the net worth of political dynasties? Are political dynasties associated with higher
levels of poverty and inequality and lower levels of human development outcomes?
Is the standard of living lower in provinces dominated by political dynasties?
Political dynasties comprise 70% of jurisdiction-based legislators in the current
Congress. However, research shows that they possess higher net worth and win
elections by larger margins of victory compared to those not belonging to political
dynasties. Jurisdictions of political dynasties are characterized by lower standards of
living, lower human development, and higher levels of deprivation and inequality.
12.Ligo-Rap, Vivian. "Some Theses Concerning the Filipino Value System.
Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society 18 (1990): 149-61. Print.
A brief introduction to the philosophy of human values is necessary for an
understanding of Filipino values and values education. The publication reveals
that the Filipino family is still predominantly traditional. As such it is a closely
knit, personalistic and a protective unit wherein strong ties of loyalty bind
Filipinos to their groups and their familial utang na loob (debt of gratitude)
lasts throughout life. The wide obligation network for kinship that expands with
every marriage forms the support system of Filipinos and their protection in any
crisis. For Filipinos, their families are their most important reference group, the
core of their alliance system, where they find security, strength and support.
Loyalty to family and kin, family solidarity and togetherness, concern for the
family welfare and honor, rank high in their priority. Filipinos interdependence
among familial relationships and their reliance on kinship networks is a major
characteristic of our society which one can relate to the nations current
concerning economic and political status.
13.