The Philippines does not have red and blue states, it has red and blue dynasties
Analysis and Opinion
By Joe America
We’ve had robust discussions here at The Society of Honor about how to unseat the dynasties in 2028 by forming a left/liberal coalition that would move the Philippines beyond its current shackles of impunity, corruption, and incompetence. This discussion generated considerable enlightenment for me as I came to realize that dynasties by definition are not bad. In fact, many or most may be “good”, where good is defined as loyal to the Constitution and earnest in their efforts. They became dynasts by the fate of history and a Philippines that favors the moneyed over the struggling. With tens of millions struggling.
So dynasties exist. They are the backbone of the leadership class. They are the framework upon which deeds good and bad are carried out.
In the US, blue states are where democrats rule. Democrats are politicians and voters who think government needs to help people. Red states are places where politicians and voters think government should stay out of the way so people can make their way freely. Democrats are leftish, Republicans rightish, and both have extremists. US President Elect Trump is an extremist, and to the right. Urban centers in the US are generally Democratic, and rural areas Republican.
The Philippines is divided into provinces, but they do not have the same political powers that states have in the US. Philippine political powers are more localized at cities and municipalities. This is where the dynasts are hatched and persist, generation after generation. They got a head start somewhere along the way and insist on keeping power, and the ability to generate wealth, within the family. Well, who wouldn’t.
If we look at the dynasties, though, we can see that, at any point in time, there are “pro-people dynasts”, such as President Aquino, and “anti-government dynasts”, such as President Duterte. Blue and red dynasts in a rough sense. President Marcos seems to be lining up relatives to assume the presidency after him, so we can figure that he is red. Because family is more important than competency in caring for the people.
That then gets us back to building a competent government, and the coalition idea as a way to unseat the incompetent. If we scan across the Philippines, we can identify which dynasts are for people (blue) and which are for themselves (red). Seems clear to me. Well, all are for the people to some extent and for themselves, as dynasts. Blues are 80/20 and reds are 20/80. That’s the general distinction.
What does the Philippines need today? A stronger national government or stronger local governments? I’d say we need a stronger national government and more competent local governments, because local governments are already dynastically strong, but are misdirected. Misdirected, as in thieves, poor investors of taxpayer money, or incompetent.
So that, then, becomes the challenge for our coalition effort that seeks a Peoples’ president. It should seek to engage blue dynasts in this push for honesty and competence.
Interestingly enough, there is a ” good governance” initiative underway among the nation’s mayors. So this is a natural fit. Over 100 mayors have signed on to a good governance pledge, as reported here: “Over 100 Mayors Sign Manifesto for Good Governance.”
As of June 30, 2024, there were 1,642 mayors in the Philippines, so this initiative is not going to tip the scales right now. But it is a start, and our coalition effort can conceivably supercharge the mayors’ good governance agenda.. Indeed, perhaps the 2028 Peoples’ presidential candidate will come from this pool of mayors. Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte comes to mind as a possibility.
So let’s add Good Governance Mayors as an element of the Peoples’ coalition. Perhaps it’s most important element because mayors have clout, among voters.
So to recap, Peoples’ coalition voters can be generated from nine groups that could serve as “influencers” behind the initiative:
- Good Governance Mayors (blue mayors)
- Pinks (Robredo supporters)
- Liberal Party (Yellows)
- Akbayan (moderate left)
- Makabayan (far and extreme left)
- Independents in red dynastic regions
- The Catholic Church (and other religious organizations)
- OFWs and Filipino citizens overseas
- Oligarchs/business community
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Cover photo from League article “The Servant Leader“.
The Society of Honor by Joe America 
I have a question regarding 7.
Does INC or LDS (Mormons) tend to build their churches (they have very similar architecture I noticed) in red or blue dynast territories? I assume the Catholic Church has more coverage. but where do the churches coming from USA usually set up shop? and is there a pattern to it? like 7th Day Adventists, JWs, Lutherans, etc. etc.
No political distinction I think. They are everywhere. More by population size I’d imagine.
SDA, JW, “Born Again” nondenominationals associated with American megachurches mainly base out of Cebu nowadays and have set up some “colonies” in Mindanao where the entire barangay are all church members. INC seems to be losing membership in Luzon/Manila so they are moving into Visayas, especially Cebu. All the above target the poor and destitute for conversion. “If you want this food and stuff, accept Jesus into your heart first.” Well, not that much for INC but it applies to the others. When I did Catholic charity work, even in non-Christian countries we rarely advertised that we were Catholic, and we always gave what we had freely without requirements. I have some friends who are former SDA from the Mindanao colonies and the amount of control imposed on followers seems scary. Also back in the day briefly dated the daughter of one of the prominent (rich) SDA families in Cebu. The colonies don’t really follow a pattern. They set up in remote barangays in order to ensure that all the inhabitants are from their church, so they can exert maximum control.
INC seems to be losing membership in Luzon/Manila so they are moving into Visayas, especially Cebu.
This sheds a lot of light for me on why the support for Inday Sara (or anti-impeachment stance). Thanks, Joey!
Hmm… I think you’re reading my report wrong… from my own interactions with INC, I don’t think that’s right. Supposedly INC moves and votes according to the direction of the Manalos, which is why politicians are wary of INC’s political “power” in bloc voting. In practice INC members don’t always vote according to the bloc vote, and indeed since the Philippines has a secret ballot system church members vote for whoever they personally want. The “support” for the Dutertes in the Visayas is directly related to two things: anti-establishment (anti-LP) beliefs stemming from socmed propaganda, and the fact that the Duterte clan are Bisaya. That’s it. Not related to church membership or whatever. However if Digong’s badly attended rally earlier this year in Cebu during the Mindanao secession push is any indicator, Cebuanos aren’t willing to come out in support of the Dutertes anymore compared to the massive showings back in 2016. The Dutertes don’t really have any power anymore outside of Davao.
That makes sense too.
I guess its on hold right now or rally will be the weekend prior to Christmas according to reddit. or maybe not at all. just management flexing. VP Inday Sara is now opting for security other than AFP/PNP so maybe that MNLF/MILF security offer will come about after all. I hope they sport beards if not beards at least get that Muslim look ala Syria that would look cool for sure.
I’ve always been interested in INC cuz they remind me a lot of Mormons, eg. they got their shit together it seems. and get into national gov’t.
While there is no explicit prohibition against facial hair and beards in INC, it is informally discouraged.
Also, INC beliefs are completely different from Mormon beliefs. The religions derived from two branches of Christianity that are quite far from each other.
I would say Mormons (in the US) are a lot more organized than INC. INC just doesn’t have the level of control over members non-INC people who are unfamiliar with the church think INC has. The political “power” and others believing INC bloc votes are just suspicions and beliefs of non-INC, which it appears the INC leadership cultivate.
INC just doesn’t have the level of control over members non-INC people who are unfamiliar with the church think INC has.
Agreed. But even if its just a big con though, it’s a good con ngl.
I think that is accurate and it leads me to want to use the word “ephemeral” to describe national-level political loyalties in the Philippines. Here today, gone tomorrow. They are not deep rooted either intellectually or emotionally.
I think with the lack of an educational foundation and in the absence of strong institutions where people may find belonging and purpose (whether civil, religious or worker’s unions), humans revert back to the base, primal instincts of emotion-based decision making devoid of reasoning. Indeed emotional thinking can even cause people to vote against their interests. They will follow the flavor-of-the-day demagogue promising them everything they think they want and fix all their “problems.” But by surrendering our agency to others, we surrender our political power which albeit small individually can be strong collectively. We are witnessing this now in the US and the collective West, especially with the 40 year undermining of education and institutions in the US. I’ve always thought that the Philippines is often a canary for what’s to come in the US as odd as that may sound. It would seem that anti-democratic forces in the world think the same be it Putin or Xi, nihilistic selfish billionaires, or the power hungry demagogues. The only way to fight against these forces is to find a way to communicate to our better angels.
Great assessment. Indeed the Philippines represents vacuous thinking influenced by the butterflies of populist politics. Perhaps Filipinos will lead the way out. I note here the proposed bill banning troll farms for political purposes.
Banning troll farms would be great, but that might face an uphill battle in regards to freedom of speech. Though a lot of these troll farms are funded by Russian and PRC money, which is not protected under free speech as it is an adversarial act threatening national security. NBI needs to be more serious. Crumbs started surfacing way back in 2015 suggesting that Putin was testing a new form of hybrid information war on the Philippines to help the then unknown Duterte as a test run to later do the same on a greater scale to propel Trump to his first win. Really shocking to be honest that over 8 years has passed and the AFP and NBI have adopted a bahala na attitude regarding this threat, especially since then the PRC has joined in on the hybrid warfare.
The bill is well on its way, so no uphill battle I think. I’ve not seen the language but imagine a good lawyer could define the process as something other than earnest free speech if it is mechanized and malicious. Rather like mass libel. I worry that it could be weaponized wrongly, as the ATL has been, but De Lima backs it so I’ll wait and see.
While there’s no system of law anywhere in the world that fully respects the impartiality of Lady Justice, the perennial problem in the Philippines is that well-intentioned law is often weaponized against opponents. Still I believe something must be done about the foreign interference, which is mostly weighted against PRC now with the ongoing WPS issues. The bigger questions that Filipinos need to grapple with, just like Americans need to grapple with, is why so many of the fellow countrymen are so willing to fall for obvious lies and division? Nietzsche comes to mind: “If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”
Chemrock opined that the morality of many Filipinos might be totally warped.
His example, being a Singaporean, was Flor Contemplacion. I could take the mother of Christine Dacera, who wanted to punish possible innocents just for the sake of punishment (or for leading her daughter into a questionable lifestyle, if one is somewhat generous) or those who wanted to punish Paco Llarañaga of Cebu for a crime he could not have committed as he was in Manila when it happened – some allege just because he was the brash and rude type of young tisoy. Politically, it is punishing the other group no matter how. Maybe one group is just “fairer” in terms of not twisting the law as blatantly. But who really understands justice over there?
This makes me recall the Christine Silawan case from a few years back, which happened quite close to where I usually stay in Bankal, Mactan. The poor girl was raped and had her face skinned then dumped in an empty lot, yet the local powers that be directed public anger towards two ex-con brothers, while being criminals, could have not committed the rape and murder. The logical suspect was always Silawan’s boyfriend who was well known to be mayabang and intensely seloso, and who was protected by powerful friends of his family the mayor and captain. The rape kit and evidence was mysteriously “lost.” Silawan was publicly dragged even in death as a young whore and promiscuous Jezebel. The ex-con brothers who had nothing to do with the case were chased in a huge manhunt all over Cebu island, then killed in a hail of bullets by the police, never to testify their side of the story. Silawan’s boyfriend’s family moved out of the area and the entire episode was forgotten, pushed aside for the next public outrage. The dead girl never got justice. Her family, threatened with violence by both the authorities and the public. Even pictures of her dead body, skinless face and all were shared all over socmed and groupchats, her shorts and underwear pulled down after her death to “make sure” she was portrayed as a harlot by the onlookers.
What makes episodes like these worrying is they are another sign of the huge problem in that people don’t have a baseline of facts or a baseline of shared reality. They fill it in with whatever or whoever is willing to explain what reality they feel that they are going through. Sure one can sympathize and say that people do this because they have hard lives that are unfulfilled. I can agree perhaps that their lives are unfulfilled, but I would actually say that these people have way too much idle time to think about problems that don’t affect them directly, yet ignore the problems that do affect them. In a country where gossip and chika travels at the speed of light, the national consciousness can quickly become warped to the point where people can feel good about “he/she may be a murderer, but at least HE/SHE’S OUR murderer!” And while I don’t think dynasties and the powerful are actively driving these narratives of public outrage, it is quite convenient and left uncorrected as long as the public has something shiny to chase, the powerful need not worry about being challenged.
I’m fascinated by that abyss and the light featheriness of its occupants as they fall deeper into the dark, completely out of reach and unaware they are falling. It’s weird that the dry objectivity of technology is used to emotionalize feeling humans. My guess is the technology is already in charge, a huge amorphous blob eating at our brains one connection at a time, we just don’t know it yet because we have not imported time into our awareness of it.
One of the lesser known reasons for human advancement throughout the ages was our ingenuity at creating shortcuts both physical and mental in order to accomplish tasks faster. After all, the human brain which represents less than 2% of a human’s body mass consumes over 20% of our caloric intake daily. Creating shortcuts, especially mental shortcuts, was often a huge evolutionary advantage. We are both people who experienced the world before widespread Internet connected lives together. I see people walking everyday, driving even, mindlessly staring at their phone screens which they can’t seem to pry from their hands. I’m reminded by a quote from one of my favorite sci-fi novels which I had read as a yellowing paperback copy at the library when I was a kid:
“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”
– Frank Herbert, Dune (1965)
@Joe & Joey,
Virtually all you point out should be set in stone. I suggest that these should carefully be analyzed, discussed and group (TSOH Coalition)-ruminated on. Now, I sorely miss the sharp, logic outline delineation expertise of the late Edgar Lores. My specific concern in such an exercise is the dual nature of reality: every STATED affirmation or negation contains its UNSTATED twin usually its opposite. Thank you, J & J ! 🙂
That’s an important insight, sonny, thanks. Edgar is in his next life, a mere baby, moving up the ladder of highly enlightened souls. He left behind a style that is the highest standard for the rest of us plodding mortals.
Thank you for the kind words Kuya Sonny! Karl compared me to Edgar Lores, but I think I’m but a poor facsimile. My thoughts tend to be scattershot outside of work products.
Abi Binay and Camille Villar seems promising but all of them have promises, this two one is for betterment and one is for catching up to today and future issues including mental health.
Can they be included in the Blue coalition under oligarch and mayor?
That’s a good question. Both in my mind carry the stains of red, as in self-dealing (by parentage), but they could make an overt statement for good governance by signing the manifesto that others have signed. Or if a coalition developed that had a formal structure, they could choose to join it.
when I arrived here to live Binay was the mayor of Makati. I didn’t know from dynasties back then, but I saw what he did for the city residents and seniors especially. He kept pretty quiet as VP to Aquino but the joke was don’t let Aquino turn his back. And Binay was referred to me as a mayor who dipped in the coffers but never took it all and gave back to his constituents. So since corruption is inevitable maybe the portion going to the politician versus the people is at a respectable (livable) balance?
Interesting point, Tyler. “Supplemental income” because pay alone doesn’t support the level of responsibility. I get it, but it would be better to do as Singapore did, raise pay to levels appropriate to responsibility and have no tolerance for any corruption. Nancy Binay seems well principled and I suspect “Dad” would be dismayed if any of his kids were corrupt.
In Germany, public officials accrue pension claims after a minimum time in office, also to compensate for that time being a break from their regular job – often up to mayor, politicians still have that over here.
I presume they lose that claim if they are caught being corrupt.
Sounds rational to me.
Or how about make it explicit in the New Constitution that PBBM wants to do,
that all politicians voted into office that they get their thievery done within the first year in office, like a freebie. but then after that 1st year, they have to work. just do work for the country the rest of the time in office. That way you normalize plunder, over table instead of under the table (as well as the table, lol that was the joke I heard back there), but also normalize the concept that after that window of “opportunity” it’s all work thats expected.
Thus you can also include in the New Constitution, that punishment once there is plunder found after that 1 year grace period, that not only the politician caught will be hanged publicly but also all his family by blood and also children from outside marriage. not thru EJK but really judicially done in front of people, that they be hung. so if he/she the politician has a big family then the rope industry there will be happy— Manila hemp.
I’m assuming here, that at some point after examples made, that 1 year of “opportunity” grace period will eventually disappear fade away and in the history of the human race, the Philippines will have the most clean politicians. But it all starts with that 1 year grace period. Maybe even help new politicians out with off shore bank accounts (thru the Ombudsman office), hell maybe even cut-out companies incorporated in Delaware. the sky’s the limit. but encourage that 1 year grace period first.
Ridiculous. Pay a higher salary. Jail plunderers for 25 years. A change in the Constitution to legitimize stealing is nonsense. By all indications, Filipinos don’t like messing with the Constitution so it is not really doable.
That is a good option. Thanks
THANKS, Joe America, re “people’s coalition from nine groups”! Hope too is a blank page: the womb where words sleep to shape all eventfulness. G. H. Abad
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone
Ah, nicely said, it is indeed ready to be written.
TSOH Coalition (9) is a Blue coalition by definition? Identified Blues are friendlies to the TSOH Coalition? 100 Good Governance Mayors are TSOH Blues? Pinks are TSOH Blues?
Yes. All are pro-people, and recognize the importance of national government to assist where assistance is needsd. All blue.
Thanks much, Joe.
Joe, there’s 5 out of 9 (Catholic Church included) here:
was looking at Kiko’s photo and thought…
like what Joey said about long form podcasts vis a vis Kamala Harris’ lost. Are there Joe Rogan or Howard Stern type podcasts there? Ireneo shared videos of P-pop personalities with youtube channels but I’ve not seen podcast type shows as big as Joe Rogan. with a wider net too, thus viewership, Heyderian et al. tend to just focus on politics, so has to be like Joe Rogan covering a wider subject not just politics. but all of Philippines. Who can do this over there?
Tremendous opportunity there. The Tulfos are the closest to that. Populist appeal. Information dissemination.
American long form “podbros” can’t really be translated into the Philippine context. The rise of the podbros and manosphere in the US is related to GenX parents coddling the hell out of GenZ American boys to replace the “lack of love” GenXers felt from their Silent Gen parents. The truth is US GenX had it relatively easy and they are just a cohort of selfish, self-centered jerks. When GenZ boys were so coddled they didn’t develop any lasting friendships or strong bonds. Being told they were so smart and handsome since they were children when they’re really not made them upset when they couldn’t date women out of their league by simply demanding it. Socmed and gaming culture made it worse.
This can’t really be applied to the Philippines where friends and family connection is still rather strong. Most Filipinos tend to “watch” TV or “listen” to the radio in the background, not be on edge and engrossed in vacuous long form podcasts like American boys are. Filipinos by and large still gravitate towards celebrity power, but celebrities try to stay apolitical because alienating large portions of potential fandom is bad business. So your suggestion probably won’t work in the Philippines.
So your suggestion probably won’t work in the Philippines.
the Tulfos seem to be doing something right, Joey. but you’re right nothing like Joe Rogan. I think you’re wrong about long form podcasts, Joe Rogan for example spans all sort of topics under the sun from UFOs to MMA to politics to Hollywood to comedy to academia/folksy academia. I would venture to say its the dragnet type coverage that makes Joe Rogan popular, same same as your big tent analogy. Lex Fridman and Jordan Peterson i never got into cuz one’s too boring the others too manic. I do think theres a market for this big tent type coverage in the Philippines, but I don’t think theres a Joe Rogan type personality essentially a generalist in the Philippines. Filipinos tend to pigeon hole themselves into roles and status. that’s the problem. But the Tulfos I think their gimmick is more Judge Judy type programming, which I agree is entertaining I use to watch a lot of Peoples Court. investigative type stuff also. so if Joe Rogan cannot be replicated, then follow the Tulfo model. like DeLima can totally do her own podcast following the Judge Judy model. but she’ll have to talk more Tagalog and less English (reserve English when talking legal, that’s a power language). all in youtube get paid for it too. as to music and film/tv industry makes sense that artists would be scared, its still very much 1950s Hollywood over there. no hashtag me too. so why not get former politicians as well as current to do podcasts. like if Trillanes doesn’t get elected , he should totally do a youtube podcast ala Tulfo. but more focused on banking and banking laws there.
TL;DR: politicians do podcast.
Also,
Filipino academics do podcast.
Also,
Clergy do podcast.
but I prefer long form cuz after 2 to 3 hours you really get to know the person more than snippets of prepared statements. that’s why the Joe Rogan model works. aside from the information being covered, people feel they’re getting a better read of the guests once Joe Rogan goes all over the place with them. its not curated. why I thought Kamala Harris woulda bomb with Joe Rogan (aside from the entrapment that was obvious on Joe Rogan’s part cuz the Dems did try to cancel him big time), Kamala’s too curated. no personality she’s been doing this politics stuff for so long. can’t bob and weave. rigid.
no one can beat this interview, i wanted it to go on longer. but the dude’s old.
this guy was good too,
Also, military/police do podcast.
Not so much police podcasts that i like there’s a couple who review incident videos for example but not very entertaining. military podcasts theres a lot Shawn Ryan is up there when it comes to military podcasts (Joe Rogan type long form interviews)
interesting stats:
I do think theres an audience for ufo/aliens in the Philippines. untapped potential audience.
As much as I hate to say this because I’m wary of the Tulfos, the Tulfo brothers are much smarter than Joe Rogan. I listened to Joe Rogan early on years ago before he was “famous” and was aware of his back history. Joe Rogan’s type is one of a brain dead commentator opines on everything regardless of his knowledge, never pushes back to obvious common sense inaccuracies, and is constantly wowed like a child at the most inane guests. Most of his episodes consists of him and his regulars smoking weed and shooting the shit. Not exactly an intellectual exercise I’ll give the limited time humans have. Even listening on 2x speed is unbearably boring. I’m not interested to hear from people who don’t understand even a bit of what they talk about. If I wanted to be tortured that way, I’d go over to my brother-in-law’s house and have a beer with him.
Joe Rogan is popular due to the manosphere, “fight club” performative masculinity bro culture stemming from fantasy wrestling and misunderstanding the movie Fight Club which I find distasteful and toxic. It seems these type of men are over compensating for something.
The Tulfos are smart. Their style is one unique to Filipino radyo series from which they originated. Joe Rogan has nothing on them. “Bobbing and weaving” is just another way of saying someone doesn’t know what the heck they’re talking about. I engaged in competition martial arts when I was younger. The deadliest opponents talked very little. They did not “bob and weave.”
never pushes back to obvious common sense inaccuracies, and is constantly wowed like a child at the most inane guests.
The only filipino podcast I can really get is Heyderian because it’s like half in English. Tulfo , Ireneo shared him awhile back, language barrier so can’t really discern if theres is better vis a vis Joe Rogan. but i do get that its investigative/judge type genre that the Tulfos are doing (again I’ve not listened to theirs much).
This is where Heyderian needs to take pointers on Joe Rogan, Joe Rogan unlike Heyderian allows his guests to just talk. he asks questions (I agree that Joe Rogans no expert in anything thus his strength is his hands off approach to interviews), then Rogan just lets his guests yammer on about everything.
That last part is the secret of his success. that’s actually the bob and weave part i’m talking about, the ability of his guests encouraged by him to dip into a myriad of other subjects, then surface then dip again into another. bob and weave.
That’s why as you can see in his popular podcast line up, JRE is really varied. he’s got different guests varied subjects and easy to follow you don’t need a college degree. he may have started out as MMA but now Joe Rogan is totally varied a lot more scientists i noticed. i didn’t listen to him early on but caught that Penrose podcast cuz I was reading Anathem and thus Googled Penrose.
So I’m late to the Joe Rogan party, but I’m hearing teenagers as well as oldies talk about hey did you listen to so and so ‘s interview? I mean especially Trump people were talking about that interview up til Election Day. and it was everyone, not only regular Joe Rogan listeners. Everyone watch it.
TL;DR— to copy Joe Rogan’s formula, just ask simple questions then let your guests talk (about everything!) be hands off.
Thats the secret sauce, Joey.
I’m confident Filipinos can copy that formula even improve on it. so far only Heyderian’s in this genre but he has the same guests over and over. maybe thats more a producer/programming issue. but you gotta have new people as guests.
So the Joe Rogan formula is very simple.
Trillanes and DeLima can totally do it, maybe they can do it together. Like below I’ve not seen covered. and I guess he was there for the Corona impeachment so he knows.
My only caveat to what he said above is remember Trump was impeached too and look at him now. cuz that 1 , 2, and 3 is simple enough, even with desired results. but DE voters get a vote too. so my point, if Trillanes had his own Joe Rogan podcast right now he can explain this with guests. now til May 2025. just talk about impeachment but also what his guests wanna cover (entertainment politics science fighting ufos, etc. etc.). I credit Joe Rogan for getting more people into UFOs, Joey. like that , Trillanes can get Filipinos into impeachment too.
these podcasts and podcasts personalities theres untapped power there that Filipinos need to get into. but it is it’s really about personality.
Here’s two examples of women on Joe Rogan just recent. I think theyre both dealing with the same subject, that, or their expertise intersect. so good. watch ’em together.
but it’s the physicists is what I really get into, Joey.
not Joe Rogan but Sabine Hossenfelder (have you heard of her) is also a good watch.
Unsure of what Joe Rogan has to do with the Philippines. Also, “science communicator” and person who does YouTube commentary for money isn’t the same thing. Not to doubt Dr. Hossenfelder’s credentials but I’d imagine truly passionate scientists further research in their field, regardless of how much money they earn. They tend not to become commentators as their day job. And if I wanted to learn from commentary regurgitating already known facts, I’d read a well researched book because I’d be able to speed read multiples of times faster than I can listen to someone speak.
I grew up on Isaac Asimov’s popular science books, among other things. Vlogs and podcasts are usually for an audience that doesn’t like to read for whatever reason or as supplementary information to listen to on the fly like I do with Kings and Generals.
Filipino vlogs are for a culture that prefers personal kuwento by relatable kuyas or ates and isn’t truly literate in our sense of the word. The likes of (recent PhD) Prof Xiao Chua still are on vlogs and make them as they probably realize most Filipinos prefer NOT to read. There are numerous other vlogs by various influencers like BatasNatin by Atty Libayan (very anti-Tulfo) or Komiksman by a comics writer from QC – their content is from great to highly questionable, but they are out there and those better informed are mostly not present.
I was listening to the new Kings and General episode on Ukrainian history just earlier. Excellent and mostly correct information with nice animation work. Be already read much of the source history (translated) years ago so it’s nice to listen to something while doing something else.
You’re right about Filipino vlogs/podcasts. Most of the audience seem to be BPO workers who work non-Philippine hours and can’t interact with their own family and friends outside of work due to working on Americas/European TZ. All other Filipinos can just get largely the same kwento by talking to their family members or neighbors. It’s also common to hear radyo dramas or “investigative journalism” programs similar to Raffy Tulfo’s “In Action” series on in the background emanating from many neighborhoods. Cheap flatscreen TVs were only a recent phenomenon, starting among BPO workers who have disposable income so I think these low budget dramas and shows haven’t migrated yet. TV is still very much the realm of big budget ABS-CBN style dramas.
Personally I consider Raffy Tulfo to be more of a Filipino Jerry Springer talk show host who foments drama for listenership than a real journalist. I question if most of his show is manufactured or not, but people believe it. I think the radio format is one of the best ways to passively influence Filipinos. Vlogs require one to be at attention watching, while both vlogs and podcasts require data to download, something many Filipinos would rather spend their load on gaming or other Netflix-like entertainment. Radio broadcasts can be on, in the background, quietly shifting viewpoints. Going back to the Raffy Tulfo example, if one listens to one of his episodes in entirety, the episode is mostly filled with clownish behavior and amateur investigation mistakes. But Filipinos who listen tune all that out and perk to attention during the “action” drama parts of confrontation and hysterics of both parties. That’s the only punchline they remember.
MLQ3 did see the likes of TV Patrol (and Tulfo) as forerunners of Dutertismo.
Though even the sensationalism promoted by the likes of the televised Erap impeachment trial or televised Senate hearings has maybe contributed to shallow emotionalism, though that would be among those who are supposed to be the more educated crowd.
I often think of Occam’s Razor as applicable in the psychological sense as well, that is, the human mind tends to take the route of least resistance to come to conclusions because the issue at hand can be too troublesome to contemplate. There is no need to think of the implications of this or that if someone can be found to be blamed, to be made a whipping boy, guilt deserved or not. Lazy thinking afflicts even the educated. In the Philippines “convenience is king,” even when it comes to long ranging issues like how politics touches everyone’s lives whether one wants or not. A human superpower is our ability to create mental shortcuts to make up for our lack of physical attributes as it relates to the lower animals. More than often mental shortcuts are what allowed us humans to advance rapidly. But the mental shortcuts can also be hacked psychologically too once biases are introduced, creating a self-reinforcing feedback loop.
Radio programs like TV Patrol and Raffy Tulfo In Action are first and foremost entertainment, often being sensationalist exaggerations, a warped mirror of reality just like the “reality television” genre. Beyond the at-face problematic nature of “reality” as portrayed by these types of entertainment, over time some people will begin to think that what is being portrayed is reality itself. I had not been exposed to TV Patrol that much besides when I visited a Fil-Am friend, but supposedly as the years went on after the initial post-EDSA program, TV Patrol devolved into more entertainment than an actual news program. TV Patrol as I was exposed to starting in the early aughts when I was in the Philippines did seem very “OA” compared to more staid American news programs. Ironically enough as I mentioned about how I’ve always felt that the Philippines is a canary, American news programs even by legacy outlets like NBC, CBS, ABC started becoming more sensationalist by the 2010s just like Filipino media had already gone before. Raffy Tulfo coming up in radio broadcasting is just a natural progression of more sensationalism, more shock value as he gained a following from habitual idle listening by laborers and tricycle drivers on portable radios. I don’t think Raffy Tulfo started out nefarious or suspicious. I do think however his current chameleon-like viewpoints and faux-populism to be a sign that he has now convinced himself on “makaako.” Which I find to be very dangerous. It doesn’t take very much to share one’s positions, so why can Raffy and his brothers never seem to really take a strong position on any one of the issues that plague the Philippines?
Videos are a highly inefficient medium. I can’t stand them and don’t view the incessant links plopped down here. My time is worth hundreds of dollars per hour (in my mind) so they’d have to be spectacular to earn a look. Podcasts are also inefficient unless one is trapped in a car, the music playlist is getting boring, and other bands on the radio are burned out.
My time (consultant’s rate) is still worth hundreds of dollars per hour, so time is a critical limited resource for me, hah. I have no desire nor time to watch and listen for hours to people who know nothing about what they are talking about. I’d rather save that time to have human conversations with family, friends, or even total strangers when I’m out and about. I went to the grocery store for a quick run to buy bread at 10 PM and ended up talking for nearly an hour with a random guy in the parking lot about classic cars when he made a comment about my new car. Was that information that useful? Probably not, even though fast cars are of interest to me. But was the random conversation with a stranger more fulfilling than watching idiots talk out of their ass for hours? It definitely was.
Years ago, Prof. Randy David had a talk show, mostly social issues and politics. On radio, there’s Rafael Yabut and Joe Taruc more on discussion as they received phone calls from listeners .
At present, there are lots of Filipino vloggers and most of the subscribers/audience are OFWs. Some broadcast live stream, others uploaded discussions. So I think Filipinos are aware of the issues in politics and governance. Only problem is which side you’re on, just like others who discredited Rogan already .
Christian Esguerra is, at the moment, the biggest YT influencer with a somewhat Pink orientation. I guess these podcasts are ideal also for MM Filipinos stuck in traffic or the MRT.
Ireneo, when i search for ATTY. Libayan i get this guy is this the same?
At present, there are lots of Filipino vloggers and most of the subscribers/audience are OFWs. Some broadcast live stream, others uploaded discussions.
isk, What’re the top three you think? list ’em out, more the better. thanks.
Superb critique.
Joey: Nietzsche comes to mind: “If you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”
Joe: I’m fascinated by that abyss and the light featheriness of its occupants as they fall deeper into the dark, completely out of reach and unaware they are falling.
===
firstly, i think you guys are interpreting Nietzsche’s quote wrongly, here’s its context.
isk: Only problem is which side you’re on, just like others who discredited Rogan already .
So isk is correct, the problem is one of interpretation us vs. them than actual truth. they’re dumb we’re smarter.
here’s why…
Videos are a highly inefficient medium. This is wrong , Joe. cuz when I was defending EJKs/drug war there post 2016 and you guys were all like facebook and social media is the reason DU30 won troll farms and what nots. I said DE voters were most likely listening to the radio and were not on socmed. so Joey’s correct here, this agrees with what I know. Joey: I think the radio format is one of the best ways to passively influence Filipinos. I think so too, but I’m also thinking video format is the best now.
Your sense that it was why Kamala Harris lost is correct.
vlog i’ve always equated to video travel log, eg. those Mormons speaking Cebuano on youtube etc. this is the first i’m hearing vlog as same same as podcast, to me podcast just means 1 or 2 people talking just talking. and people watching/listening to said talk.
people are thirsty for knowledge. knowledge is best inputted via conversation. and why most people fail the school setting. why most don’t read,if you werent reading good by 8 years old youll never catch up. blind people listen better. but given sight and sound are available most folks would rather hear and see, cuz a lot of information also comes from seeing how comfortable or passionate a person is when talking about this or that.
But why do people watch/listen to these podcasts? if you’re understanding it only as cheap psychoanalyst of lonely people, then you’re already not understanding or even attempting to understand why. if that’s your go to explanation, Joey.
why its a shallow criticism of why people watch Joe Rogan etc. already youve shot yourself on the foot w/out even attempting to understand. why you were so wrong about Kamala and why you’ll be wrong about Inday Sara/DU30 (actually i’m not too sure about that cuz the future hasn’t taken place yet, but analysis has to be like dragnet not pick and choose your truth consider everything don’t curate youre not in a museum).
You have to be omnivore when it comes to data, Joey is my point. consider everything.
Be already read much of the source history (translated) years ago so it’s nice to listen to something while doing something else. So conceit is your initial fault, Joey. why you’re mostly wrong about a lot of things that have not happened yet, things that have already happened your experienced knowledge is good i rely on it, but once you prognosticate you’re usually clumsy.
People again are watching these podcasts/vlogs to mine information, the easiest to mine info is by following conversations of others. people aren’t sitting 2 to 3 hours of Joe Rogan because they wanna review or have already done their homework on source materials. sure info gathered therein can jumpstart a rabbit hole from which to go to the library or do further readings, most people gotta work don’t have time for all that. they just wanna soak up the new insights/informations. cuz
the human factor in all this is they’re gonna talk to family, friends, coworkers, strangers about it. like currency. why your lonely freudian analysis is wrong. its actually more next level jungian stuff happening but not so much collective unconscious but collective consciousness they’re sharing.
information spreads. its contagious. don’t wear a mask.
So if you wanna quote Nietzsche, I think the most relevant of his quotes are the ones about truth and interpretation. and then really introspect, thats what Nietzsche was about, Joey.
here’s a better quote from him:
All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth. — The Dawn of Day / Daybreak: Thoughts on the Prejudices of Morality
(all that I got from Googling/youtube, Joey. didn’t go to college for it. and more and more people are having access to all this stuff too now i’m not the only PhD in Google there are more)
which leads us back to the Philippines.
isk: On radio, there’s Rafael Yabut and Joe Taruc more on discussion as they received phone calls from listeners .
At present, there are lots of Filipino vloggers and most of the subscribers/audience are OFWs. Some broadcast live stream, others uploaded discussions.
I totally agree with radio by the way. and the Jerry Springer and Love Line format I understand that better, so would like to change the whole Peoples Court analogy to those. Tulfos are more like Adam Corolla and Jimmy Kimmel, and Dr. Drew.
isk always gives good insights on the ground, gian too. so thanks.
But I actually like Joe Rogan’s format i guess isn’t so much the conversation per se but its his breadth of guests. theres girth. its up to you if you wanna go deeper into a subject or issue. but Joe Rogan casts a wide net for his audience.
thus audience growth.
so while we wait for a Filipino Joe Rogan, why not get Filipinos to watch Joe Rogan et al in the Philippines. monkey see monkey do and thus Joe Rogan Experience will be replicated having watched them.
My policy proposal is that 10. Filipino entertainment industry, scratch that but not completely off cuz in the end this is still all entertainment. so keep the 10.
but put Elon Musk’s Starlink in parenthesis under 10.
maybe start with INC and Mormon churches since they’ll have the money. then expand to like every Negosyo Center, eventually every DepED campus. maybe the OVP can reach out to Elon Musk to get a good deal on Starlink. and make this her pet project.
I rest my case.
don’t go too deep into that abyss quote, he was talking about women. dude was a man-child when it came to that.
he was heart broken i guess but everything else of his I think is spot on.
LCpl, I like you buddy. But I don’t appreciate being called conceited. Even when I don’t agree with you, I have respectfully considered your viewpoints before disagreeing just like I’d do for anyone else. I also don’t appreciate having words shoved in my mouth. I have never “prognosticated” as I’m a person who works within reality and information. I don’t have a tendency to make wild predictions, nor let my ego cloud what is true or what is not. Life isn’t always about winning, and frantically trying to find “evidence” to prove an argument. It makes one look silly to be frank. Personally I rarely need to do extensive additional research as everything I write about, is directly related to my experiences. If I have nothing to say that adds to conversation then I refrain from speaking as you may have noticed the last couple of blog posts. If something is unknown, I’d say it is unknown. What is knowledge established by scholarly consensus, then that should be respected as well unless there is strong, compelling evidence otherwise. I do hope I’m misunderstanding your reply.
My personal philosophy:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/proverbs/13?3
“Those who guard their mouths preserve themselves;
those who open wide their lips bring ruin.”
—
Nietzche:
I’m aware of the context of the quote. But as the screengrab clearly shows, Neitzche was using the example in the context to explain a larger theme of the human psyche.
DDS troll farms:
This is incorrect, and FB/socmed DDS “army” was a critical factor in Duterte’s win. I was there in the Philippines quite often during that time period. Filipinos all have “Facebook Free” / “Free Data” (aka FB Basics). In a country where until recently SMS cost money per text, pretty much every Filipino had been on FB since FB Free Basics debuted years ago in 2013. Since many Filipinos mindlessly reshare memes, DDS quickly realized they can use meme culture as a propaganda tool. Radio media often repeats the social-cultural consciousness, thus can eventually repeat propagandistic memes, often starting it off with “alam mo ba yun??” Video will not take off in the Philippines until everyone has mobile data. Not sure if you’re familiar with the fact that most Filipinos only maintain a 1 peso balance on their SIM load, so they can access FB Free. Many Filipinos never even load their SIM as they are either too cheap to do so, or they can’t afford it. Without a load, there is no data, so can’t stream video which uses much more bandwidth than audio. And even audio is beaten by simple meme sharing on socmed. Even if data load was cheaper, which it won’t be as PLDT Smart and Globe are totally incompetent companies, most Filipinos will be too kuripot to pay for a load unless it’s “free” and “unli.”
Mormons speaking native languages:
Consider that Mormons have a very organized missionary organization, even if they aren’t very successful in conversions. They are very serious about learning the languages of the populations they target for conversion. Consider also that Mormon missionaries, who are almost always young, will utilize the current medium to assist in their missionary activity. That for now is social media.
Vlogs vs podcast:
We are using vlogs in the Philippine context. Not the American/Western context of a vlog. Filipinos use “vlog” to describe both video social media posts similar to the American context, but Filipinos also use the same term to describe video podcasts. Podcasts started out as audio only, for the simple reason that in the US mobile data as not unlimited or cheap in the 2010s. Now that mobile data is cheap and unlimited, many podcasters are adding video cameras to their studio setup and post the video copy to YouTube. However, podcasters and podcast listeners had been posting and listening respectively to audio-only YouTube podcasts for years before this.
Conversation:
Conversation can be a great tool for discovering and exploring information and knowledge. But if we have two people or a group of people who know nothing about the subject, and who also have no desire to discover and explore the subject, then we have a bunch of people talking about subjects they know nothing about. They would start out knowing nothing, then at the end they would’ve wasted hours of their time and having learned nothing. I have no desire to listen to people who know nothing about what they’re talking about, and who don’t have an desire to learn about the subject. What a luxury these people have, to be able to talk for hours uselessly. I don’t have that luxury of time.
Starlink:
Most Filipinos can barely afford to buy a mobile load, and maintain 1 peso balances to access FB Free. Being gifted a load is a big deal that is accepted with huge gratitude. How can Filipinos then afford Starlink which costs hundreds of dollars a month (not including the terminal)? OVP does not have any independent funds besides what the OP provides, unless the VP like former-VP Leni went out to raise money independently for her social work. The Dutertes don’t know how to build relationships and ask for money. They only know how to demand money and spend money. So not gonna happen.
Rogan:
I guess you haven’t watched/listened to that much JRE then. Yes he does have guests. Some guests I like such as Neil deGrasse Tyson. I even enjoyed the Bernie episode. But most of his guests are conspiracy cranks and people that don’t seem mentally stable. He’s even had quite a few people who skated quite close to fascist or neo-Nazi views on as well. Sure one can argue from the point that we should try to understand others even if we don’t agree with them. I’m not one of those people. I’m a “punch a Nazi” type person. That’s before even the fact that the majority of JRE episodes have no major guests, with just Rogan and his buddies smoking weed and talking nonsense.
But I don’t appreciate being called conceited.
Not conceited. The ‘conceit’. i used this same word if you remember describing your stance on two gangsters not being able to keep a secret and that whole thread (where i got Joe to agree). that secrets and secrets kept is the norm of humanity not the opposite. and why I like more information as oppose to less info (or curated info). the difference is in worldview. I think I’m more conceited than you if there was to be a contest, Joey. so no i’m not calling you conceited.
The conceit of knowledge.
Neitzche was using the example in the context to explain a larger theme of the human psyche.
But holistically there, he was talking about women, Joey.
Video will not take off in the Philippines until everyone has mobile data.
That’s why I said Starlink.
But if we have two people or a group of people who know nothing about the subject, and who also have no desire to discover and explore the subject, then we have a bunch of people talking about subjects they know nothing about.
This I agree with. but my position is that just the very fact that they’re talking about it is good enough.
dirty info vs. clean info, it doesn’t matter to me, so long as people are talking about something they knew nothing about prior to now talking about it. don’t matter where they are in that Dunning-Kruger arc just that now they are sharing and interacting with said new idea.
thus can eventually repeat propagandistic memes, often starting it off with “alam mo ba yun??”
propaganda or not, information spreads. its up to the opposing party that doesn’t like said info or not benefitting from said info, to counter it with their own stuff,
and why I said I liked your idea of Dems getting their own Joe Rogan, but actually they did have their own Joe Rogan and it was Joe Rogan but then they tried to cancel him.
so there’s that too, stop cancelling censoring. that’s it, that’s the first step.
How can Filipinos then afford Starlink which costs hundreds of dollars a month (not including the terminal)?
That’s why I said private sector and churches like INC/Mormons first, then from there spread. Negosyo Centers and OVP or DEPED are gov’t entities that can follow suit. i’m sure military/police will already be all over this.
looking at their website its like $500 bucks a month for a business plan and that covers WiFi for hundreds of devices. I don’t know how thats possible actually. but looks doable especially say Mormon churches i think they have money to burn.
That’s before even the fact that the majority of JRE episodes have no major guests, with just Rogan and his buddies smoking weed and talking nonsense.
I do like the comedians that come in, as to the other guests, yeah if you’re not a fan either skip or fast forward.
The Dutertes don’t know how to build relationships and ask for money. They only know how to demand money and spend money. So not gonna happen.
The new DEPED secretary is celebrated mostly cuz of the stuff Inday Sara did in just 2 years!
“Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.”
– Frank Herbert, Dune (1965)
Watch:
“So not gonna happen.”
I have never “prognosticated” as I’m a person who works within reality and information.
The above is prognosticating.
You’re seriously going to argue with a Linguistics graduate over a word, the semantics of which you just googled a few minutes ago then connect it to a completely different thought of mine, thus deciding what I’m thinking on my behalf without asking for clarification? Really? Well here’s a prognostication: I’m normally a patient person with little desire to prove myself to others. But I’m starting to lose my patience. If you want to think you win, in a one-sided argument, wherein I wasn’t even trying to compete in the first place, then you win bro. Congrats 👍
did you have another definition for the word?
First of all, literalist interpretations without taking into account the nuances is the first step to a failed argument. They teach that day one in debate club. I’ve tried to gently guide our conversations away from that on days I have more patience. Second of all, like I said I don’t opine on things I don’t know anything about, and I keep an open mind in case I need to adjust my understanding. This doesn’t mean I must agree with everything. A persuasive argument is successful when the other party is led to change their viewpoint, not because one effectively exclaims “I won.” If one knows not about a subject, it’s better to either listen or ask questions with an open mind AFTER listening to learn from another who has experience in the subject. As for the topics in this blog, I’ve never claimed to be a Filipino or to be a historian or someone who had worked in Philippine politics. But I have had going on now since 1998 25+ years of direct exposure and observation, on the ground experience in the Philippines, even in provinces Filipinos won’t go to. Whatever I share is directly derived from my own experience and understanding enough Tagalog and Cebuano to get by. I rarely Google to search for information as I receive it directly from the kwento of friends or from my direct experience. It’s irritating enough that when you get into these discombobulated spiels you constantly move goalposts and press others to “prove” but when you’re respectfully challenged you’ll change the subject and flood the zone. And my only bias when it comes to the Philippines is that I want the Philippines to emerge as a better country, not only to benefit Filipinos but it also benefits fellow democracies in the Pacific including the US. For that reason I care not that Marcos Jr. is now President even though he wasn’t my choice if I were a Filipino. All that matters is the elected politicians do their job as well as they can, while respecting the Constitution. So for that reason, I cannot be supportive of Digong nor Sara who both actively spit on the law.
Yes, as in my long-used analogy, Marcos is at least still a Roman just as PNoy was, Dutertes are Goths.
Re YT you did mention it as the medium of C and higher D, it is clear that the one peso load crowd won’t watch them videos.
I have seen foreign vloggers passing thru Tondo asked the name of their channel though, same has happened elsewhere or even by street vendors in UP, so there must be a crowd that has more data on their phones?
And I don’t mean the chronically online DDS, Marcos and Pink A crowd with PLDT home. As someone who has been studying access in the Philippines over history including how many had transistor radios, I am interested, as access determines degree of participation.
Or do Ds and Es splurge on load when their OFW family members (or hell even their AFAM contacts) gift them, much like maids used to and still secretly watch on their employers’ TVs when they aren’t there, a short glimpse of a strange world outside their usual scope?
Re videos being time-consuming I fully agree, but for me they have been a secondhand way of checking how the Philippines looks today, beyond what the AB and at most high C crowd tells me which I started to distrust when May 9, 2022 happened as a huge huge shock.
The one peso load crowd does watch a lot of video content at home actually. While they might maintain a one peso load to keep the SIM current for FB Free, at home many DE’s have “Home WiFi” (non-portable hotspots that have loadable SIM) even if they can’t afford PLDT/Globe Fiber or Converge cable internet. The home WiFi is usually shared with the family (or even cost split with neighbors in range) and used to watch dramas posted online and stolen Netflix accounts which are commonly sold in FB groups. DE’s also consume a lot of anime and k-drama/c-drama on Bilibili or Loklok. They’re not going to use their precious home WiFi load to watch vloggers blather because they can just step outside and talk to their neighbors for that. Western long-form video podcasts are a symptom of severed real-world connections due to various societal reasons, replacing real-life friendships and support groups, none of which afflicts the Philippines as of yet if ever.
On the shoutout requests to foreign travel vloggers, however small or obscure the YouTube channel, the main reason is the requester will then eagerly wait for the video upload to brag to their family/friends that they got a shoutout. Their family/friends will then be “wowed” at their friend’s newfound “fame.” It’s a form of neighborhood notoriety I guess that’s prevalent in lower socio-economic classes of Filipinos. In the instances I’ve observed, the requester will buy a small load specifically to show the proof of shoutout. I always thought the eagerness to gain attention and notoriety to be strange, as almost everyone moves on quite soon and the notoriety doesn’t last more than a few days if even that.
The few DDS I’ve met in person (they had thought I was a Duterte supporter and voluntarily disclosed) were all solidly middle class. They probably have comfortable enough lives that they can spend all their time arguing on socmed and posting memes. Perhaps another form of excess elites who previously had no societal function, which is similar to how the American and European far-right and far-left movements are heavily represented by comfortable excess elites. DE’s definitely don’t have that amount of time or internet access.
On DE’s load buying habits, a common way for friends and aquaintances to repay small debts is to send either GCash or load. Since the debt is usually small, the load often is a 3-day “boost” on whatever promo Smart or Globe is running at the time. DE’s and even most C’s don’t understand concepts of if one needs something consistently it would be cheaper to save to buy ahead. So similarly to how Filipinos will buy sachets of shampoo, loose cigarettes, or a single razor, if they buy load they usually buy the 3 or 7 day “unli” package rather than buying a postpaid mobile plan that is much cheaper. There are various “unli” packages, but most are actually not unli data; rather the “unli” is full FB (including media viewing that FB Free doesn’t allow), unli IG. Some packages that partner with TikTok or Spotify offer unli of that app. I’m not familiar with the particulars, but I imagine that following the pattern of unli offerings that the “unli apps” partner with Smart or Globe and subsidize the load in order to gather usage data for marketing or location and activity tracking. And yes, common gifts for visiting OFWs or asked of AFAM “boyfriends” are loads, as in “send load na?”
Well, we both watch video content, but I curate my media consumption carefully both to ensure the information input is good information as well as personal time constraints. I’m sure your video watching habits are similar. As for AB’s and high C’s, they probably live in the modern day analogue of the Intramuros. In a Philippines that is two countries in one, they likely rarely look over the bridge to the “other Philippines,” much less walk across the bridge. A similar phenomenon had happened with the Democratic Party in the US as in reaction to Reaganism the Democratic Party increasingly catered to educated elites rather than the traditional working class. While the educated elites may not be rich as they are perhaps more correctly described as cultural elites, the culmination of educated elite power in Obama’s cadre has largely failed because it seems apparent now that the monied elites (billionaires/oligarchs) have found ways to slowly spread propaganda to the working classes. Educated elites in the US lost the culture wars, and Filipino educated elites can’t seem to get a pulse on the nation. This is why I feel that it’s important to focus political interaction on the vast majority. And in the Philippines that would be DE’s.
The late former New York Governor Mario Cuomo once said in classic terse New Yorker style: “You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose.” Meaning, a campaign should inspire voters with a vision that awakens them, while governing should be more structured in order to achieve that vision. I think in the US the upcoming Democratic political bench understands this adage better than the now-retiring old bench. A Filipino politician with the charisma to inspire with political poetry, while also having the right management skills to govern in prose would be a game changer.
Severed or limited real-world connections could be what affects the BPO, OFW, and condo crowd. The phenomenal influence of Mocha Uson who started off giving sex tips to mostly OFWs (and possibly also the partners they left at home or their bored kids living off their remittances) and was recruited by Dutz speaks for itself. Of course, these are C and lower B crowd.
Filipino educated elites still were more in touch with the pulse of the nation in the 1970s and 1980s, it seems. That would explain why Pink Twitter thought DDS were masa when reality is much more complex. Back in 1986, the educated and the masses still stood together at EDSA, MLQ3 wrote that EDSA 2/3 sealed the rift between the two.
I did binge on two teleseryes and then on OPM and PPop after May 2022 left me a bit funky. By now, what happened is way clearer, and I am moving forward. Hopefully, the rest of Pink manages to move past denial or bargaining and pick up Joe’s mapping out how to win. At least get some inspirations from this blog. Maybe even from LCPL_X’s weirder stuff.
OFW are separated by distance working in other countries. BPO workers mostly came from D’s and some E’s, lower C’s, but with their relatively salaries are a bit distant as well. I’d say BPO workers are still a lot closer to the masa though as most of their families are still there. I’ve noticed that some of the DDS leaders are higher classes whose followers are DE’s. I’m not sure which class Mocha Uson would be in, but given her family background I’d imagine it to be a solid B. Much like other exposed DDS movement leaders, Mocha Uson led a disreputable and unremarkable life that was later re-written as they gained a following, lending to their cult status.
I’ve heard some theories of why Philippines society separated into rigid stratum starting in the late 1980s, accelerating in the early aughts. Most variations of theories I’ve heard contained some seed of the old elites becoming disillusioned and withdrawing from political life, preferring to instead quietly enlarge their business interests. The gaudy subdivisions that rose in the early 2000s seemed to be nouveu riche, returning abroads who built compounds, or some foreign husbands who did the same. Beverly Hills and Pardo in Cebu while certainly extravagant back when I first visited in the early 2000s, is much more gaudy nowadays. Much of Cebu’s wealth and status as the richest province to outstrips every other non-Metro Manila region is probably tied up in real estate fueled by outside money being parked there.
I think the increasing cleaving of Filipino society into what I liken to be “two countries in one” was also due to globalization. Or rather, the lack of access to the benefits of globalization while the population boomed again after EDSA, cresting now with a large working age population that is nowhere even close to being fully employed. Whereas the money that had poured in from sovereign debt, FDA and FDI was not used effectively, most likely even skimmed off in instances. And so we have these huge subdivisions that are practically mini-cities in themselves, sometimes with a handful of armed guards, in other cases having what amounts to a private army to keep outsiders “outside the walls.”
On winning coalitions… Pinks can’t win on goodness alone. Much like US Democrats, more liberal (even if “independent” of party) Filipinos focus a bit too much on culture. In the past perhaps that would be a good strategy when most people watched and listened to the same set of programs. Nowadays socmed has democratized information, for both the good and the bad. I think it would be very difficult to win with culture when the other side doesn’t care about baseline reality and continually floods the zone, short circuiting the brain of millions with (dis)information overload. If they can win on base instincts then the forces of good can also win on another form of base instinct, by adopting a pugilistic politics. The good side can still be good, decent people, and also call out and punch back harder. Warning and scolding about the dangers of the other side isn’t enough, especially in the persuasion wars. Winning, I think, can be distilled down to two things: an inspirational message and being a fighter for the people.
The word republic comes from Latin res publica, meaning public matters. Those who live in fully privatized worlds – subdivisions, malls, and private schools – have less skin in the game of public matters and thus the republic as a whole. Is that still reversible?
Of course all that came to be in the Philippines as public policy failed. Malls are a workaround for failed urban planning, subdivisions are a sign of failed social justice and public security which are intertwined, private schools mean public schools suck.
Even too much private transport is a sign of failed public transport, even if this is an admittedly European POV.
I think it’s reversible, but it will be hard. Most of the subdivision dwellers already consider themselves higher than other Filipinos living “outside the walls,” but of course there are more independent thinkers among subdivision dwellers who dream of a better Philippines. The problem I think, is that those who do want a better Philippines for all still comfortably stay within their bubbles. In a way, the Philippines “outside the walls” that they imagine is one of decay, danger, corruption and ineptitude. In other words, their view of the outside as well as their perceived solution are in a way a fantasy that isn’t rooted in reality. The Philippines that exists outside of the walls may be imperfect, but it is not decayed, particularly that dangerous, I question whether open petty corruption is worse than silent “major” corruption, and DE’s who may have less education are doing the best they can and are not inept. The “outside world” to me, is a vibrant Philippines full of hope and people trying to navigate a complicated world, as imperfect as it may be. That’s what gravitates me towards the world of DE’s.
The rise of subdivisions in the aughts with megamalls sprouting like Starbucks do on every street corner in the West can just be symptoms of the ills. Filipino hyper-consumerism was shocking to me when I made my way from Manila to Bantangas on my first visit all those years ago, at a time when Bantangas was not as heavily built up as it is now. And this is coming from me being an American whose country has been (rightly) criticized by others for placing consumption culture on an altar; our malls in the US can’t even compare to the size and opulence of Filipino malls built after the late 1990s, and Americans invented the modern shopping mall. In a way I suppose that hyper-consumerism is a type of drug as well, and the opulence of malls there provides a fantasy escape from reality. Private schools can and are a sign that families are not confident in public education, but I also think Filipinos had always placed higher value in exclusivity and “having what others can’t have.” Even if the private school has a terrible education (and many do), a family can say “my child attends private school,” and that often instantly makes them feel higher than the others in their chika circle. My ex’s mother used to do and say things like that.
From my observation of Pinks, though they usually labeled themselves as “independent” in the sense of established Filipino parties (i.e. distancing themselves from LP), most Pinks seemed closer to Akbayan in ideology than not, or somewhere in between Akbayan and LP. The problem of ineffectiveness therein I believe is due to relatively comfortable lives, and not making an effort to interact with the DE’s they rightly hope to lift up along with the nation, DE’s I talked to mostly saw the Pink movement as out of touch. DE’s felt like they were being looked down upon (which is a big no-no I suppose in Filipino face-saving culture), even if most can agree with better government equaling better personal economic outlooks. In human minds, I suppose feeling like someone is looking down on one’s self elicits a much stronger negative reaction that shuts out possibility of dialogue. Dialogue that never existed or attempted in the first place. As the better educated and being in better economic situations, it is the responsibility of those who have agency to help their fellows who lack agency gain agency. Yet after the election it seemed that most Pinks quietly went back to their comfortable lives. Losing was sad for them, but ultimately did their lives really change that much? I’d argue their lives did not change drastically, emotions aside. Yet for DE’s, the hope of better rice prices, access to better food, cheaper electricity or fuel costs, are immediate concerns where even 500 or 1K pesos in the budget can make a big difference. DE’s can be scolded all we want for making immediate decisions that are counter to their long term interests (I have to remind myself not to do this too), but another way to look at the situation is that while 1K pesos might not be that much to a middle class Filipino, it is a huge amount to a DE. The difference between paying for electricity, buying their children school supplies, or having a handa with better food than pancit where one needs to fish out tiny bits of meat.
Joey, I wish this commentary could be bottled as serum and injected into the minds of all who think about the Philippines, including residents, foreigners, and OFWs. Such a perfect description. Inside and outside the walls, and the drive to get in but exclude others. This is a doctoral thesis in three paragraphs. I agree that outside the walls is a vibrant, warm, even exciting place to be, and few DEs seem to feel sorry for themselves there, whilst we insiders would weep with self pity if we were placed there. Terrific commentary. Thanks.
Thanks Joe. I think a lot of societal distrust in the Philippines boils down to lack of interaction between various groups. In the absence of interaction there can be no understanding. Mistrust and assumption grows, reinforcing bad feelings. It doesn’t help that Filipino society tends to “other” different people which continues onto other societal aspects creating a semi-rigid strata that is hard to move across lest the “layers,” or gasp, the “blood” mixes. Filipinos on the non-radical Left (LP, Pink, Akbayan) often don’t realize they are a tiny percentage of the population in relation to the vast DE majority. The Filipino Left assumes they are in the majority as they create and make the official version of national culture through representation in traditional media. That may have worked in a prior time before social media, but it doesn’t work now when social media allows more voices among other classes. Ignorance of the societal divide that was always there, but was exacerbated by democratization of media, often causes Filipino cultural and educated elites to assume they know the answers to the national problems. But I think that’s just projection on their part, worsened by a lack of curiosity in simply talking to other groups. So I hope the Left starts talking to other groups in Filipino society. I hope this can create a majority consensus to bring about a better Philippines.
We shall agitate for that in our modest way.
VP Leni was a pioneer in talking to the people, venturing out in tsinelas. Possibly, her middle-class background from Bikol, where the walls were never that high, might be significant.
Unfortunately, the Pink campaign decided to go house to house way too late, so most volunteers were out to convince not just talk, maybe they were far from being on the same page as their Presidential candidate.
To counter local dynasties, I imagine that a national organization would need to be stood up in order to provide a counter to the constant voter engagement that the dynasties have inside and outside of election years. Something like the immense energy of the Pink movement, but spread out over 3, 6 years rather than being intensified into just a few months at a lower level. I consider Leni to be one of the most forward thinking politicians in the Philippines and she had set an example of how engagement can be accomplished, but I often wonder if most Pinks really understand Leni’s effort, or if most Pinks just saw Leni as another “saint” similar to the Aquinos who were raised into sainthood before her. It would seem that even educated, affluent Filipinos who want to “do good” are also looking for a savior figure — ultimately, being not that different from the vast DE they misunderstand, falling into the same political traps when against the slow, steady influence of dynasties. This is the Philippines after all, a country that is still politically and nationally developing. When running campaigns based on intense focused emotion, the brightest lights tend to burn out quickly, leaving all in darkness. All the while, the established political forces hold their “sumbo,” while dim and flickering, gives the people consistency.
A persuasive argument is successful when the other party is led to change their viewpoint, not because one effectively exclaims “I won.”
You said I won.
🤦🏻♂️
A persuasive argument is successful when the other party is led to change their viewpoint,
But seriously, Joey.
Its not the other party, but the audience that gets the last say. why debates have judges.
edgar (RIP) use to do that here. he’d enumerate every proposition. and lemmas. lol.
If we’re done now, I’ll have to bid you adew. no hard feelings.
I wasn’t trying to interpret anyone, just describing what I see. Nietzsche didn’t live in 2024 and didn’t deal with the social media mental virus. And You Tube is inefficient TO ME, an observation you do not have the power to reinterpret. You may watch until your eyes fry, no worries here.
then you’ll like this one, Joe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_man
Nietzsche warned that the society of the last man could be too barren and decadent to support the growth of healthy human life or great individuals. The last man is only possible by mankind having bred an apathetic person or society who loses the ability to dream, to strive, and who become unwilling to take risks, instead simply earning their living and keeping warm. The society of the last man is antithetical to Nietzsche’s theoretical will to power, the main driving force and ambition behind human nature, according to Nietzsche, as well as all other life in the universe.
The last man, Nietzsche predicted, would be one response to the problem of nihilism. But the full implications of the death of God had yet to unfold: “The event itself is far too great, too distant, too remote from the multitude’s capacity for comprehension even for the tidings of it to be thought of as having arrived as yet.”
Smart dude.
Good idea. Ten it is.
While VP Leni’s campaign rallies were almost concerts, I doubt that the entertainment industry will commit. Individual artists and bands will, and super popular bands like Ben&Ben had their OFW fans NOT canceling them for supporting VP Leni even as they were for someone else.
PPop groups will stay out of politics, and even their politicized fans want that music to be free of any kind of politics.
Thanks. That makes a lot of sense. Scratch entertainers.
NNnnnooooooooooooo!!!
So I read Reddit sometimes, i think the above chart is accurate. depending on subreddits too though. lots of censorship there. youtube is where I’m seeing myself at nowadays on top of the Googling mostly due to Google not giving a lot of information compared to say 20 or 10 years ago. more geared to business and buying now. too much paywalls too. Twitter i’m spending a lot of time especially the Syria and Ukraine stuff, i notice Twitter is mostly quiet when it comes to Philippines. facebook, TikTok and Instagram I’m not on at all. so mostly Twitter then yt then Googling whatever I find.
I have big blinders on cuz i’m not seeing the TikTok, fb, instagram, etc. etc. that’s part of introspection knowing what you don’t know. I try to compensate that thru here but also by getting halo-halo down the street. (figure of speech, i actually have to drive but not too far).
So more on facts and interpretation… i just came across that Heyderian share on my feed and right below it was Elon Musk’s share. so Google translate, Bato is correct. if theres enough evidence then file a case in court (assuming impeachments won’t go thru the Senate). but he also has that “trust” VP Inday Sara statement. not sure if that’s “trust” or can be interpreted another way or simply that since Bato is Bisayan he’s chosen the wrong word. but given his preceding statement about filing court case, Bato seems to be just saying give her the benefit of the doubt she is the 2nd highest elected official after all (people trusted her to vote for her, don’t undermine that).
TL;DR:
That’s how you use Nietzsche.
Nice. I see they are wearing blue, the color of the People’s coalition. Wonderful.
Joe, I’m glad you came around on how dynasties can be included. Dynasties in the Philippine context are really just Filipino political elites. Every society no matter what which stage of development the country is in will have elites as part of the societal-economic stratum; that seems unavoidable. Elites will always be part of both the existing problem and the solution to eventually solve the problem.
I’ve mentioned Oxford economics professor Stefan Dercon a few times in this blog. Dercon has done a substantial amount of research on the economies of developing countries and has come up with some surprising conclusions on why some some countries “win” and others “lose.” This goes directly against the cookie cutter development approach of the World Bank and IMF that is generally accepted as orthodoxy but has failed due to corrupt leaders in most developing countries gaming the system by misspending assistance funds and loading up on debt which is then skimmed off.
Here’s a short summary of an NPR interview with Prof. Dercon:
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/12/05/1138927037/whats-the-secret-sauce-that-lets-some-poor-countries-prosper
Prof. Dercon argues that developing countries that successfully industrialized and reduced corruption always followed the pattern of a group of elites deciding on taking a “development bargain,” calculating that risking their power, control of resources and influence to make a collective commitment towards long-term economic growth and development would be worth more than holding onto their existing control of resources and power. This is how I see the Aquino family’s political ideology. Elites who are willing to pursue the development bargain are making a political gamble, which Prof. Dercon explains:
“In the short run, it may backfire. If you stop paying off the political supporters who brought you into power, you might lose power. If you invest that money in infrastructure instead, it may take awhile before those roads or ports are successful. You might make errors. There might be riots. That’s the gamble.
But the countries that make the gamble are convinced that in the long run, the benefits are worth the deep commitment, including some of the pain it takes, to be successful in growth and development. And if they’re willing to learn and adapt from mistakes, they will be successful.”
In Mindanao and outlying provinces, local dynasties still act like Wild West politicians. Even in Cebu, the “richest province,” the local politicians often take a hands-approach, where most of the development has been brought in by outside investment with very little involvement of local Cebuano politicians that I’ve observed (though they will gladly take credit, of course). In Luzon, I recall cities such as Marikina being a foul-smelling dump not that different from the worst areas of Manila, yet now Marikina is a relatively clean and modern city 20 years later. Ditto for Baguio which on my first visit was very poor and practically rural.
Note that cities like Marikina are suburbs of Metro Manila, close enough to participate in the NCR economy, yet far enough that they can experiment with new ways of doing things. As residents collect more resources and affluence, let’s say, moving up from being a squatter with a barong-barong to having a permanent dwelling (albeit still on squatted land), people will start to demand better political accountability to protect their newly gained resources. At least that’s the pattern I’ve seen personally. In some cases the local dynasties clean up their act either by necessity, or when the children of the dynasties become more educated and professionalized. Of course if the locality or municipality under the dynasty’s influence grows economically and in influence, the dynasty also gains influence.
This is the basis on Prof. Dercon’s argument that eventually there will be more elites who see beyond raw wielding of power, and “see the light” that more money can be made, and more influence can be gained if more constituents’ lives became better. Perhaps both instances of Aquino presidencies came before Filipinos “were ready,” because after all as Prof. Dercon explains, enough elites need to act collectively in order to successfully increase the development level of a country, which Prof. Dercon calls a coalition of forces to make a shared commitment.
In your list of groups, all but #8 (OFWs and overseas Filipinos) are led by some form of elites. Elite doesn’t need to be a naughty word after all. In the simplest sense, elite just means someone who has more power and influence than the majority of citizens. So I imagine that in a scenario that can work is to create a simple, cohesive message that dynasties and local elites all over the Philippines can buy into, in order to form that coalition of forces to make the shared commitment for a better Philippines. Jobs and a better economy seem to be a good start and no-brainer. More jobs and better economy for the people = more money and influence for elites. Everyone wins in the end. Then perhaps one day Filipino elites will transition to be relatively unknown rich people with famous surnames who collect esoteric art.
Great ideas, thanks. Messaging for ” elites”, especially.
Elite in the Philippines still has the specific connotation for many of groups of people in power that are somehow different from those not in power as in being on the other side of the Great Cultural Divide created by history.
This has lead to masa Filipinos preferring “our SOB” over those perceived as being “different”, even if the divide over there has narrowed as there never was a substantial mestizo or even white elite lording over natives, like in many Latin American countries, as Filipinos often are bad at dealing with just minor differences.
Maybe the time indeed needed to come where the Roxas clan is not just creolized in looks but also seen as fully native in behavior, with Paolo Roxas dancing budots in public – if that isn’t enough yet ewan ko na talaga.
Personally I believe the old datu-barangay societal organization plays a big role in what’s “ills” the Philippines, but many societies have figured out how to embrace progression while honoring elements of where they came from. It’ll be tough though as the datu model is a localized one where one feels loyalty to their community, not necessarily to the nation which seems like a far away concept in a country where mobility between regions to foster the exchange of ideas and national bonding is still hard.
In my view even many Filipino academics seem to not realize how much Filipinos had adopted in part foreign (Spanish and perhaps some American) concepts, without fully understanding or figuring out how to integrate these ideas into Filipino society. For example, the White, Creole elites and Mestizo sub-elites of Latin America fully adopted the local culture way back when they led the independence movements of Mexico and Gran Colombia. They rejected their European-ness and opted to nativize, to become Mexican for example. For that reason, the newly elected President of Mexico, who has a Jewish immigrant background, has herself embraced full Mexican-ness and Mexicans see her as a Mexicana, one of them. The same goes in other Latin American countries that historically had a large Peninsulares and Creole population, like the successor states of Gran Colombia, being Colombia, Venezuela, Panama, Ecuador, or Argentina.
Yet in the Philippines, which is still finding her sense of national unity, Filipinos after the Revolution quickly sorted themselves out into a new form of Imperial Spanish racial castes, with those who were Mestizo or Tisoy often holding themselves above the rest (unless they were unfortunate to be one of the lesser sons in a large family, and cut off from the family fortune). Indeed, it seems that the most obnoxious Filipino politicians who were adopted as “our SOB” by the masa are in fact the ne’er-do-well lesser sons of political dynasties, like Rodrigo Duterte, who used populist demagoguery to hypnotize the masa by claiming to be one of them, adopting their supposed manners and habits. Somewhat like the Roman Gracchi, but in inverse as the Gracchi advocated for social reform and were killed for it, while Duterte is a reactionary who prosecuted would-be reformers.
The Philippines is very much two countries in one as I’ve observed many times. Not so much because the vast majority of Filipinos are poor DE’s, but because most of the elites stay “behind the walls” in blissful comfort and don’t want to reckon with what goes on outside the gates. It’s as if there’s an entire nation living in a real life Lord of the Flies, with no responsible persons to guide those who need guidance. Time will tell if the elites will come out of their walls and society will coalesce into a stronger union.
Could be that the elites that founded Aguinaldo’s Republic had no concept of state except the colonial one. And their idea if elite was going “Intramuros” (inside the walls) like those they took over from.
Culturally there is a lot of TH (trying hard) in the Philippines, with TH Kastila in the 19th century, TH Kano in the 20th and at the beginning PPop was TH KPop, until it did start to find its own direction.
Perhaps Filipinos have to rebuild their state from the ground up, not literally but in terms of good governance starting with the “datus”, and the people waking up and realizing they are a nation-state of 110+ million by now.
Well, before the Spanish conquered Latin America, the native regional cultures had already developed strong centralized native states, which was a benefit that the Philippines did not have. The Filipino academic viewpoint can often be clouded by both leftover revolutionary propaganda and colonial thinking, seeming to find ways to justify Filipino historical greatness that is not based in reality, not realizing that viewpoint is in a way a bad copy of Spanish colonial themes. I think this is why often the Filipino story is disjointed and “doesn’t make sense,” even to most Filipinos. Latin America already had major empires and powerful states prior to the Spanish, and the Spanish (whether purposely or not, probably inadvertently though) had organized the Latin American viceroyalties largely along the lines of the conquered native states thus keeping the territories of ancestor native peoples largely intact. For example Mexico comprises largely the intact territory of the Nahua people (Aztec), along with the minor territories of the northern Maya remnants, the Mixtec, Zapotec, etc. who were under the control of the Nahua (Aztec) Empire. Today, Mexicans recognize their Mestizo or native status, while also recognizing that they are Mexicans. Mexicans feel a strong connection to both identities, just like Americans often feel a strong connection to being Italian AND American to give an example. Whereas, who was a “Filipino” in the Philippine sense at the time of the Revolution? Perhaps the Spanish governors had misunderstood the structure of native Philippine polities, or maybe they didn’t care enough to understand and develop Spanish Philippines as the Philippines was used mostly as a trading post for most of the Spanish colonial period.
The other advantage that Latin American revolutionary leaders had over Aguinaldo’s revolutionaries is that given the higher importance of their home colonies in the Spanish Empire, many had already been traveling to Spain and Europe for years and observing other political systems. The Illustrados who Aguinaldo claimed to be inspired by had a much more compressed timeframe to do the same. Maybe due to the shorter exposure time, these Filipino leaders did not have time to digest ideas fully and instead shot from the hip. That seems to be a common habit even today among my less-educated Filipino friends.
So yes, I think the TH culture makes sense. Prof. Xiao Chua had an vlog where he explained the to young listeners that a Filipino superpower is the Filipino ability to adapt. Specifically he gave examples of how Filipinos can adopt other cultures, for instance to become more Spanish, European, or American. Adaptability can indeed be a powerful tool of survival, but once we get past the survival stage, adaptability can also be used to make use of more advantageous situations. To me it seems the drawback of extreme adaptability is it makes one have an amorphous nature, never settling on one identity or purpose, instead ever changing. Filipinos need to figure themselves out. How can Filipinos respect each other’s religions and ethnic cultures, while also learning to collectively move forward as a nation. I’ve always thought that the most logical way is to respect, honor the past and the culture, while creating a new identity that builds on the best attributes of the original culture and thinking. This seems hard for most Filipinos to do, as they seem to want to hang onto both the good and the bad. We can keep the good, acknowledge the bad and learn from it, then build on the good.
Rebuilding the state from the ground up seems to be the only way to move forward from stagnation. A new national mythos rooted in truth would probably help as well. I think Prof. Stefan Dercon’s model can be adapted to the Philippines, but I also recognize that the countries in which he based his studies on developing nations on also existed in the past as strong unified states with a cohesive pre-colonial identity. The fact that the Philippines was, and is still fractured culturally is a big unknown. Somehow building better inter-Philippine transportation infrastructure, probably as many bridges over shallow straits as possible the a robust, reliable RORO ferry network would help quite a bit with many things.