UN experts investigating the Ampatuan Massacre in Maguindanao said today that the Philippines should have a major reform in the country and reflect "on the elite family-dominated manipulation of the political processes and the need to eliminate such practices in order to assure the future of democracy in the Philippines." They blame this bourgeoisie form of politics as one of the reasons why an incident like the Ampatuan Massacre could even happen.

I say, easier said than done. To be able to achieve this, the very culture of the Philippines will have to change. The problem of the elite ruling and dominating the political process has so many levels that go deep into the very psyche of the people.

The Underlying Feudal System

What most people seem not to understand is that despite the seeming modernity of the Philippines and vaunted democracy that it practices, it still essentially follows a feudal system where the landed elite has almost full control of the region that they belong to. Nobody can contest it because only the bourgeoisie get the best education, the best jobs, and the capacity, financially and politically, to run for office and the power and influence to supposedly impact change for the betterment of society. And like the magnanimous landlord that they are expected to be, the constituents support their respective landlords in the hopes that they will be taken cared off properly and rise alongside the success of their patron, as long as they remain loyal and obedient.

Sense of Family/Regionalism

The Philippines is made up of islands each of which have their own unique identity. As such, people who belong to the same region have a tendency to think more of their kababayans as brothers than the rest of the Philippines. Because people coming from the same area look at each other as family, the leader of that area then serves as the parent of the whole region. In this kind of arrangement, the trust placed on the governor of a province can almost be considered as blind loyalty to a parent. But the same way that the people give their love to their governor like a father figure, they fear him as well, knowing full well that if the father is disobeyed they will be punished.

Education and Poverty

In the Philippines, it is the moneyed that has the monopoly on education and opportunity. This being the case, those who are poor cannot afford to get a good education and thus are blocked to any opportunity to improve their lives. It is due to this, that again they will have to trust those who supposedly know what they are doing, and who have the opportunity and the power to improve the life of society.

At the same time, because of their lack of education, they are oblivious to how superficial the magnanimity their leaders have. Those in the end, the protection and the benefits are nothing more than sugar coating to cover the corrupt activities that these politicians engage in.

Apathy and Complacence

On the other hand, it takes neither education nor much intelligence to see the corruption in the system. The biggest problem lies with the apathy and complacence of the people. They’re too used to corruption and as long as it does not affect them directly they just won’t bother changing the system. It’s basically a philosophy of "I already have enough problems going through life, I don’t need anymore."

With this kind of backdrop, is it really surprising that political leaders can literally get away with murder?

So how does this end? Through Marxian conflict? It won’t even get there… unless you change the culture and the way the people think then maybe… just maybe the exclusive manipulation of the political process and that of government by elite families can end.