Filipino Culture Regarding Politics
Political Culture
The Filipino cultural and value system is often applied in political life. Relations in Philippine society are perceived to be hierarchical, where one is superior and serves as a patron, while the other is subordinate and is a client.
The ultimate example of this is the politicians and their followers or the landlords and their tenants. The politician and the landlord are the ultimate patrons who bestow assistance and favors to their followers and
tenants,respectively, who act as the clients.
A client is expected to have utang na loob (debt of gratitude) to the patron and repayment can be done by supporting (i.e., voting for).
Its culture is akin to its Southeast Asian neighbors and not to the Western culture. Thus, Filipino culture, like the rest of Southeast Asia, must be viewed solely within its own parameters. In the eyes of Filipinos, pakikisama, hiya, and utang na loob should be viewed and explained within the larger Filipino culture and value system.
It can also be argued that patron-client linkages assure that everyone is included and taken cared ofin a redistributive kind of society.
Patrons are not the only determinants ofthe relations, nor are the clients mere victims. As Resil Mojares argues in his essay on the Osmenas, a political family in Cebu, patrons are not in total, absolute control.
They adjust to "altered conditions" and they act and react based on "pressures from below."s The patron does not exist in a void.
He takes into consideration the inputs and sentiments ofthe community. In a sense, even if power originates from him, the top, it nonetheless circulates and he continuously derives his power by responding to the needs of the community who in turn bestow on him their undying utang na loob.
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