Importance Of Democracy In The Philippines

In the Philippines, democracy and freedom are two misguided terms used to describe power. Democracy as a governmental structure formed and constructed by the people and is the source of sovereignty of the Filipinos. This type of regime was adopted by the Philippines vital to its administration ever since the Americans colonized the country. (Roces, 2010) At present, democracy in the Philippines is still alive and active. The population is still able to elect their leaders by voting. The Filipinos, in terms of all the rights and opportunities are still able to exercise the liberty and the freedom of speech and information. As Asia’s oldest democracy, located in the world’s most economically dynamic region, and filled with human and

Of that report James Bradley, in his book The Imperial Cruise, wrote that it “…documented a fully functioning Filipino government that was efficiently administering justice through its courts, keeping the peace, providing police protection, holding elections, and carrying out the consent of the governed. Part of the 19th century development of a Philippine democracy was the development of guidelines and responsibilities of the Filipino as a citizen. Apolinario Mabini on 24th June, 1898 would publish the Decalogue; ten guidelines citizens should follow. The seventh states: “Recognize no authority in thy country of any person who may have not been elected by thee and by thy compatriots…” The eighth states: “Secure for they people a republic but never a monarchy: the latter ennobles one or several families and founds a dynasty; the former builds up a people, noble and worthy through reason, great through liberty, prosperous and brilliant through industry.” (Roces,

Samuel Huntington once said ‘democratic development occurs when political leaders believe that they have an interest in promoting it or a duty is achieving it’. The interest of the first Filipino president, Marcos, represented more of an authoritarian development. A successful transition to a functioning democracy is largely the result of quality of leadership. The next president was Aquino who introduced more democratic reform than the previous president. Aquino first began with the constitution and reshaping its bill of rights. She emphasised the rights of workers through this reform. This caught the attention of foreign investment since they didn’t want to pay more for labour in the Philippines. They threatened to remover over $2 billion U.S. dollars of foreign investments if this continued. Rather than address this issue in a healthy manor Aquino circumvented legislation and exerted his own authority over the matter to keep the foreign investors in country. This is not the first or the last time a president of the Philippines has acted in more of an authoritarian way. President Ramos and President Estrada both used more authoritarian tactics in regulating the mining industry in the Philippines. The authoritarian style exhibited by the executive branch deviates from the democratic system. By not using the legislative branch, who are suppose to represent the people, to address