Corruption and the politics of 'survival' in southern Philippines

• Main Author: Nur Diyanah Binte Anwar
• Other Authors: Farish A Noor
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences::Political science
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/65008
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

This thesis looks deeper at the relationship between the central and local governments that might offer reason(s) for the lack of development in the South. Specifically, it looks at corruption and how it has been embedded within Southern Filipino society. Therefore, it aims to study the extent to which corruption has impeded development in the South. 'Survival' refers to the livelihood of the lay people, or the political longevity of local elites (datus) and central government who engage in corruption to stay in power. It would be unfair to impose the oftunderstood (negative) yardstick of corruption in its political and legal sense unto a society which has normalised the practice; a sociological and historical approach should be taken to give a more nuanced perspective in understanding corruption. I highlight the role of the datus as being the driver for corruption within the Muslim South. More specifically, I show how corruption and patronage is an economic means to ensure their survivability in the changing political context of the Philippines and in the South. Patronage between the central and local governments (controlled by clans headed by datus) would be fundamental in understanding how deep corruption is embedded, with multiple and complex patron-client relationships. Therefore, I assess the necessity of corruption to the 'survival' of various parties and clarify the (de)merits that corruption might have. I find however, that there is no clear determining relationship between corruption and development, considering the culture and 'internal colonialism' between Manila and Southern Philippines.