Philippine E-Journals

LEGITIMACY STRAINS IN POST-PEOPLE POWER PHILIPPINES

Liberty Orbe Taruc

Susing salita: Politics and Governance

 

Abstrak:

The Philippines has made headlines for the people power movements that peacefully ushered in new leaderships in the country. Interestingly, post-people power Philippines revealed legitimacy strains inherent in the fragmented society of the country. Counter-people power movements that challenged the right to rule of the post-EDSA governments demonstrated the apparent lack of shared norms and values in the society, which is a critical foundation for legitimacy. Moreover, the inability of the oppositional social movements to penetrate state power illustrates the clear disregard of the weaker sections of the society. Instead, the dominant groups of the elite and the mobilized civil society perpetuate their monopoly of power, thereby aggravating the incoherence of norms and values in the society.