CACIQUE DEMOCRACY IN THE PHILIPPINES: ORIGINS AND DREAMS

Benedict Anderson
CACIQUE
co suffix Originated from the Hokkienese ko
Term of respect for older males
These are the families who originated among the Chinese mestizos who bloomed
economically under the Spanish colonial regime and consolidated their wealth with
political power under the Americans
SPANISH COLONIALISM 1560s
Manila became the entrepot for the galleon trade, by which Chinese silks and porcelains
were exchanged for Mexican silver, to be resold, at colossal profit across the Pacific and
eventually in Europe
One needed to be in Manila so that there will be connections and relationships with the
Chinese traders and artisans who flocked the entrepot
Spanish power in the country was mediated through the Church
Features of Clerical Dominion:
1. Animism to Christianity
2. Mid-18th century: Commercial Agriculture Carlos III and Jose Basco y Vargas were the
pioneers of the creation of haciendas
1834: Manila was opened to international trade which was followed by Cebu and other ports
British and American Trading Houses saw the possibilities in full scale commercialization of
Philippine agriculture and it provided the capital and commercial outlets to permit the mestizos
to become real hacendados
GROWTH OF NATIONAL SENTIMENT
Those who were from the rich family were educated and had the privilege to study in
Europe
Ilustrados in 1880s, they created the real intelligentsia and began a cultural assault on
benighted clericalism and Spanish domination
Katipuneros mobilized the indio masses to revolt against the Spaniards
US COLONIZATION AND NATIONAL OLIGARCHY
US colonization changed:
1. Ensured political unification of the Philippines (Mindanao was subjected to Manila)
2. Improvement of economic position of Mestizos
3. Political innovations of Americans that created solid and visible national oligarchy
Seats in Congress Economic Base: Hacienda Agriculture Provincial Fiefdoms were protected
US colonization
influence on oligarchic rule
1903: Filipinos held just under half of the 5,500 positions in the civil service.

1921: method of Filipinizing rose to 90% 1930: US held only 1% of the post in civil service
The oligarchies quickly learned how the Congressional system could increase their power
Absence of autocratic territorial bureaucracy since there was a huge proliferation of
provincial and local elective offices
emergence of political dynasties
After 1930: Washington imposed independence, thus the caciques were not in favor. This will
threaten their access to the American market
JAPANESE OCCUPATION
Japan struck the Philippines and the Americans left the country.
The oligarchs collaborated with the invaders. But this act was not enough to save the
hacienda-based export economy
Rule of Law broke down as anti-Japanese guerilla bands expanded in the remote rural
areas
Tenants and landless laborers squat on hacienda lands and grow crops for survival
Many refused to pay rents and had insolence to threaten bailiffs who demanded them
Peasants joined the Hukbalahap
Aim of US:
1. Tydings Rehabilitation Act offer of $620M to US and Filipinos who could demonstrate that
they lost a minimum of $500 as a result of the war
2. Restore fully the pre-war agrarian and political order
HEYDAY OF CACIQUE DEMOCRACY
It was in the last ear of Roxass life that the Philippines saw the first conspicuous
appearance of the countrys private armies
WARLORD from Manila and countryside, their aim was to restore the uncontested
cacique rule They were also seen in electoral politics
Col. Edward Lansdale was dispatched to restore order through the agency of Defence.
In 1954, Huk rebellion had been crushed and thousands of peasants from Luzon
transmigrated to Mindanao and Magsaysay became President
1954-1972
Full heyday of cacique democracy in the Philippines
The oligarchy faced no serious domestic challenges
At the end of 1960, cacique democracy vanished (p.340)
MARCOS
Cacique democracy led to secular changes in the operation of the political system
Manila: seat of power, Congress, universities and institutions
The move to Manila monetarize political life

Marcos: Master Cacique/Master Warlord Cronies, hitmen and flunkies

Understood that wealth serves power and the key card is the state
Exploited the state Dealt with the Americans and fellow oligarchs
Used his plenary Martial Law powers to advise all oligarchs who dreamt of
opposing/supplanting him that property was not power since at a stroke of the martial
pen it ceased to be property (ex. Lopez: ABS-CBN was closed, Hacienda Osmena was
put up for land reform)
Those who were pro-Marcos were left undisturbed
PEOPLE POWER REVOLUTION
Topple down the dictatorship
Restoration of democracy
Restoration of open-market press

Crumbling of the crony monopsonies and monopolies filled the various sectors of the
middle class
Aquino was an elite restorationist, since she was able to rebuild the elite-dominated
democratic structures weakened by authoritarian Ferdinand Marcos during her 19861992 administration.

CACIQUE CLAIM THEIR OWN

May 1987: 130 won the seat in Congress from traditional political families 39 are
relatives of these families 31 had no electoral record and not related to these families
Of the 24 senators, few were non-traditional figures but majority were from the pre-1972
political families
POLITICS IN A WELL RUN CASINO
Each local triumph for reform promises a rentier future
American electoralism is still powerful. Anyone can get elected.
SUMMARY
Our political maturity can be said to have not improved much.
This can be explained by how colonial and local influences have molded the power
structure in the country based on the colonial and indigenous systems that persisted
over time.
Throughout the periods in which the examination ran from the Spanish Colonization to
the Revolutionary Government to American Era to the Commonwealth Period to the
Japanese Invasion to the Postwar Republic to the Marcos Dictatorship to the EDSA
Redemocratization, there has been a characteristic power structure inequality in the
political process. This inequality has upheld the interests of the elite.
Based on the tradition of ownership and accumulation of land, the patterns of inequality
harked back during the Spanish colonial period when the principalia class dominated the
control and concentration over farmlands. In addition, the right to suffrage limited to the

literate and landed classes historically assured the elite domination of electoral office.
With the emergence of urban economies, patronage systems have decreased but elites
now resort to other means like force to secure their position.
The consolidation of a national oligarchy in the government continues to create a perfect
adaptation of the ambitions of the mestizo nouveau riche in the legislative and executive
systems. If before, these caciques enjoyed control only of their respective local political
fiefdoms, now they enjoyed national-level access and exposure. This is most evident
with the creation of political dynasties across the archipelago, with family members
holding key political positions in their bailiwick areas of responsibility. Thinking of their
relative predecessors electoral posts as political inheritance, they deepen their
consciousness as a ruling class. As they exploit the opportunities presented to them by
their privileged position, their relationship with the country gets defined as cacique
parasitical.