Brainard B. Abunyawan A.

B Political Science 1A

“The Middle Classes and Democratization in the Philippines: From the Asian
Crisis to the Ouster of Estrada”

By: Temario C. Rivera

The article introduces to us the role of the middle class in the democratization process
before and during the Asian crisis that started in 1997 that snowballed to the removal of Former
President Joseph “Erap” Estrada from office. We can say that the middle class is the fine line
between the marginalized and the elite. They may be potentially and arguably small in number
despite having a fair and greater number than the elites, especially in the Philippine context.
However American Author and Economic policy critic Dr. David Madland argues that
economies are not driven by rich but by the middle class. In his book, Hollowed Out: Why the
Economy Doesn’t Work without a Strong Middle Class, He discusses that a stronger middle class
keeps stronger ties with democratic norms and that abuses of the elite could be closely observed
and minimalized. We can say that a rise in the middle class in the Philippines could mean that
our country is improving and developing – it just simply denotes that the government and its
partner organizations and institutions may have provided enough facilities and services for the
poor to pull themselves out of the grip of poverty by their own individual and collective effort.
Through that, studying the influences, mobilization, and contributions of the middle class is for
us to ponder on as people from the political science academe.

The article says that By the 1950s, a remarkable economic growth initially propelled by
exchange controls and import substitution, nurtured a generation of new middle classes rooted in
the private business sector and outside the state bureaucracy. This economic growth also sparked
an education boom at the tertiary level resulting in the proliferation of numerous colleges and
universities providing relatively cheap education. We can therefore analyze that the increase of
educational institutions providing affordable education are the roots of the strength of the middle
class. Their fresh perspectives grounded on theory and principle that they have acquired through
tertiary education has helped shaped democratization until the present time. As they have grown
aware of their rights and responsibilities in society, they have felt the need to be more actively
engaged in monitoring the government and its bureaucracies. As employees of public and private
institutions, entities and companies, policies of the government involving their own capacities
and autonomy to operate such as price ceilings, contractualization, and even taxation are all areas
for them to look into and to criticize the government for that.

With those in mind, it is vital for us to understand that the middle class are not only
challenging the political and economic powers of the elite, but they may have the capacity to
replace them soon enough. We have often heard of several “rags to riches” success stories in our
time and even generations before. They give hype to the poor that even they could be successful
and become an elite through hard work, education, and dedication. What may be different in
their case is that they have started from the periphery to a higher status. They are more aware of
the challenges of the poor and the individuals that have not been provided with education to
combat poverty. They often believe that the hindrance of the marginalized to become successful
is that an oppressive society such as our own leaves them behind. As a result, they formulated
their own charities and organizations to help them out in ways the government has failed to do
so. We can speculate that these types of new “elites” can be the ones to initiate and provide new
opportunities for the poor and the middle classes to ascend to a better life.

The author has conducted his own survey to assess the participation of the middle class.
The findings say that “consistent with the country’s historical voting record, the middle classes
show an impressive voting turnout (eight out of ten). However, other forms of electoral practices
such as supporting political parties, attending public rallies, passing flyers for candidates, and
donating money to candidates indicate quite a low level of participation from the middle
classes”. We can imply that the middle class are participative during elections but are very
selective of issues they want to voice out. Perhaps policies and controversies pertaining to
government allotment and policies for education, employment, work benefits, and foreign trade
are their most probably key concerns. It is very unlikely for them to join the engagements of the
marginalized and the poor as their concerns arise from usually disputed land as a result of the
failure of some agrarian reform policies, agricultural discrepancies of support for farmers and
rural workers, and unfair wages and facilities to maintain their livelihood.

The contributions, mobilizations, and influences of the middle class are undeniable and
continue to this day. The need to closely monitor and observe the actions and participation of the
middle class in Philippine politics is very essential. They may potentially be the ones to shape
the future of Philippine society and to dethrone the elites from their seats of power. The article
has provided us a scholarly approach in researching the middle class and that could serve as a
model for us to use. There is not much to debate about the ouster of Erap from office as his
impending doom was a result of challenging the elites and the unfortunate rise of the Asian
economic crisis cemented his fate. Their actions can ouster leaders and may pave new ways for
other political figures to rise to power. We can therefore conclude that the study of the middle
class is up to us in the political science academe as we are the most equipped to understand the
continuous class struggles present until these contemporary times and the knowledge to oversee
just how much can the capacities of the middle class translate to action.