corruption in the philippines essay introduction

Advertisement

The Philippines: a social structure of corruption

• Published: 06 February 2024
• Volume 82 , pages 223–247, ( 2024 )

Cite this article

• Andrew Guth   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6247-4955 1  

633 Accesses

1 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

The anticorruption community largely views corruption as a government or development issue. But in the Philippines, corruption is a social structure. The very social bonds and social structures that are good at building civic unity and solidarity are also good at spreading and maintaining corruption, and this is why corruption is so difficult to remove. Patrons use these societal features to implement a ubiquitous social structure of corruption by means of maneuvered friendships that makes it difficult for the masses to know when a patron is acting as a friend or foe. The social structure encompasses the whole of society and corrupts the encircled government, political, and development systems as easily as it infiltrates all other segments of society. It is why oversight and sector-based anticorruption initiatives underperform, and why initiatives must pivot towards addressing this social structure.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save.

• Get 10 units per month
• Download Article/Chapter or eBook
• 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
• Cancel anytime

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Anti-corruption Institutions: Some History and Theory

Corruption as a political phenomenon.

Corruption in Mexico: The Persistence Paradox and the Politics of Gatopardismo

Data availability.

The author’s interview notes generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available to help ensure confidentiality of the interviewees, but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Pronounced ‘leader’ in English, lider is a term used in the Philippines specifically referring to individuals (or leaders) in the community that are sought by candidates to convince the electorate to vote for that particular candidate. Liders are the individuals that perform the physical exchange of money for votes with the electorate.

A barangay is the lowest level of elected government. Each city or municipality is comprised of multiple barangays (villages).

See Appendix for a full list of respondents.

Interviews 2–3, 6, 14–16, 18–20, 22, 25, 39, 41–42, 44–50.

Utang na loob is usually translated as “debt of gratitude.” The literal translation is “debt of inside” or “internal debt.” It can also be translated as “reciprocity” or “lifelong reciprocation.”

Interviews 1,14,21,24,42–44.

The paper uses the term ‘client’ to represent the economically lower-class voters who are in clientelistic relationships with political families/candidates (patrons).

Interviews 1,14,24,42–44.

Clans are a connection of least ten extended families – usually more – where each extended family could have more than a hundred members. Clans then have a minimum of a thousand members and usually much more.

Interviews 2,5–6,9–10,14–51.

Interviews 3–6,9–10,12,14–23,25–26,27–51.

Interviews 3–6, 9–10,12,14–23,25–26,27–51.

Interviews 14–22,25–26,39,47–50.

Interviews 16,22,27–38.

Interviews 14,16,21,24,39,42–44.

Interviews 16,22.

Interview 22.

Interview 23.

Interviews 1,20.

Interviews 2,5,14–23,26,32–39,41,45,47–51.

Interviews 15–16,20,22.

Interviews 27–31.

Interview 24.

Interviews 2,6,10.

Interview 22–23.

Interviews 14,18,32–38.

Interviews 32–38.

Interviews 1,10,18–22,32–38,47–49,50–51.

Interviews 2–4,6,14–15,20,22,40,45–49.

Interview 16.

Interviews 2–3.

Interview 3.

Interviews 1,3–6,10,12,15,50.

Interview 15.

Interviews 2–3,6,15.

BARMM consists of the region formally known as the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) plus the addition of Cotabato City and villages in northern Cotabato.

Interviews 3–4.

Interview 1.

Interview 3–4,6,10,12.

Interview 7.

Interviews 2–3,6,14–16,18–20,22,25,39,41–42,44–50.

Interviews 1,3–7,10,12,14–15.

Interviews 1,3–4,6,9–10,14,16–18,24.

Interviews 1, 3–4,6,9–10,14,16–18,24.

COMELEC is the Commission on Elections in charge of ensuring fair and free elections.

Interviews 3–4,6–7.

Interview 6.

Interviews 14–15,25–26.

Interviews 14–16,25–26,32–38.

Interviews 14–15,25–26,32–38.

Interviews 14–16,20,22–23,25–38.

Interview 21.

Interview 2.

Interview 14,21,49.

Interviews 2,16,20,22–23,27–31.

Interviews 1,2.

Interviews 52,54–59,61–64,66–67.

Interviews 6,14,16,18–19,21–23,25,50.

Interviews 3–4,18,52,54–59,61–64,66–67.

Interviews 3–4,6–8,52,54–55,56–58,61,64.

Interviews 2–3,6,14–16,18–22,25,39,41–42,44–50.

Alejo, M. J., Rivera, M. E. P., & Valencia, N. I. P. (1996). [De]scribing elections: A study of elections in the lifeworld of San Isidro . Institute for Popular Democracy.

Google Scholar  

Andreas, P., & Duran-Martinez, A. (2013). The International Politics of Drugs and Illicit Trade in the Americas (Working Paper No. 2013-05). Brown University: The Watson Institute for International Studies.

Auyero, J. (2000). The logic of clientelism in Argentina: An Ethnographic Account. Latin American Research Review, 35 (3), 55–81.

Article   Google Scholar  

Auyero, J. (2001). Poor people’s politics: Peronist Survival Networks and the legacy of Evita . Duke University Press.

Bacchus, E. B., & Boulding, C. (2022). Corruption perceptions: Confidence in elections and evaluations of clientelism. Governance, 35 (2), 609–632. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12598

Balotol, R. O., Jr. (2021). Ideology in the time of pandemic: A Filipino experience. Discusiones Filosóficas, 22 (38), 31–41. https://doi.org/10.17151/difil.2021.22.38.3

Bardhan, P. (2022). Clientelism and governance. World Development, 152 , 105797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2021.105797

Benstead, L., Atkeson, L. R., & Shahid, M. A. (2019). Does wasta undermine support for democracy? Corruption, clientelism, and attitudes toward political regimes. Corruption and Informal practices in the Middle East and North Africa . Routledge.

Berenschot, W., & Aspinall, E. (2020). How clientelism varies: Comparing patronage democracies. Democratization, 27 (1), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/13510347.2019.1645129

Bobonis, G. J., Gertler, P. J., Gonzalez-Navarro, M., & Nichter, S. (2019). Government transparency and political clientelism: Evidence from randomized anti-corruption audits in Brazil [workingPaper]. CAF. Retrieved January 16, 2023, from  https://cafscioteca.azurewebsites.net/handle/123456789/1463

Boissevain, J. (1966). Patronage in Sicily. Man, 1 (1), 18–33. https://doi.org/10.2307/2795898

Bosworth, J. (2010). Honduras: Organized Crime Gaining Amid Political Crisis (Working Paper Series on Organized Crime in Central America, p. 33). Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Brun, D. A. (2014). Evaluating political clientelism. In L. Diamond, & D. A. Brun (Eds.), Clientelism, Social Policy, and the quality of democracy (pp. 1–14). JHU Press.

Canare, T., & Mendoza, R. U. (2022). Access to Information and other correlates of Vote Buying and Selling Behaviour: Insights from Philippine Data. Journal of Interdisciplinary Economics, 34 (2), 139–161. https://doi.org/10.1177/02601079211034607

Cantú, F. (2019). Groceries for votes: The Electoral returns of vote buying. The Journal of Politics, 81 (3), 790–804. https://doi.org/10.1086/702945

Co, E. A., Lim, M., Jayme-Lao, M. E., & Juan, L. J. (2007). Philippine Democracy Assessment: Minimizing corruption . FES Philippine Office.

Co, E. A., Tigno, J. V., Lao, M. E. J., & Sayo, M. A. (2005). Philippine Democracy Assessment: Free and Fair elections and the democratic role of political parties . Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES).

Coronel, S. (2004). How Representative is Congress? Retrieved November 8, 2013, from http://pcij.org/stories/print/congress.html

Dancel, F. (2005). Chapter V - Utang na Loob (Debt of Goodwill): A Philosophical Analysis. In Filipino Cultural Traits: Claro R. Ceniza Lectures (Vol. 4, pp. 109–128). The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy. Retrieved May 7, 2017, from  https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=hXJe6vKMjroC&oi=fnd&pg=PA109&dq=utang+na+loob&ots=IweNAplUNn&sig=PIltD0241NiXFkfyit-XHnsJPVs#v=onepage&q=utang%20na%20loob&f=false

Dressler, W. (2021). Defending lands and forests: NGO histories, everyday struggles, and extraordinary violence in the Philippines. Critical Asian Studies, 53 (3), 380–411. https://doi.org/10.1080/14672715.2021.1899834

Eaton, K. (2006). The downside of decentralization: Armed Clientelism in Colombia. Security Studies, 15 (4), 533–562. https://doi.org/10.1080/09636410601188463

Eaton, K., & Chambers-Ju, C. (2014). Teachers, mayors, and the transformations of Cleintelism in Colombia. In D. A. Brun & L. Diamond (Eds.), Clientelism, Social Policy, and the quality of democracy (pp. 88–113). JHU Press.

Heydarian, R. J. (2018). The rise of Duterte: A Populist revolt against Elite Democracy . Palgrave MacMillan.

Book   Google Scholar  

Hicken, A. (2011). Clientelism. Annual Review of Political Science, 14 (1), 289–310. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.polisci.031908.220508

Hilgers, T. (2011). Clientelism and conceptual stretching: Differentiating among concepts and among analytical levels. Theory & Society, 40 (5), 567–588. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-011-9152-6

Hollnsteiner, M. R. (1963). The Dynamics of Power in a Philippine Municipality . Community Development Research Council, University of the Philippines.

Institute of Philippine Culture. (2005). The vote of the poor: Modernity and tradition in people’s views of Leadership and elections . Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University.

Karhunen, P., Kosonen, R., McCarthy, D. J., & Puffer, S. M. (2018). The darker side of Social Networks in transforming economies: Corrupt Exchange in Chinese Guanxi and Russian Blat/Svyazi. Management and Organization Review, 14 (2), 395–419.

Kerkvliet, B. J., & Mojares, R. B. (Eds.). (1991). From Marcos to Aquino: Local perspectives on political transition in the Philippines . University of Hawaii Press.

Kingston, P. (2001). Patrons, clients and civil society: A Case Study of Environmental politics in Postwar Lebanon. Arab Studies Quarterly, 23 (1), 55.

Kitschelt, H., & Wilkinson, S. (2007). Patrons, clients and policies: Patterns of democratic accountability and political competition . Cambridge University Press.

Klíma, M. (2019). Political parties, clientelism and state capture. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203702031

Krug, E., Dahlberg, L., Mercy, J., Zwi, A., & Lozano, R. (Eds.). (2002). World Report on Violence and Health . WHO.

Krznaric, R. (2006). The limits on Pro-poor Agricultural Trade in Guatemala: Land, Labour and Political Power. Journal of Human Development, 7 (1), 111–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649880500502144

Landé, C. H. (1965). Leaders, factions, and parties: The structure of Philippine politics . Southeast Asia Studies, Yale University.

Li, L. (2018). The moral economy of guanxi and the market of corruption: Networks, brokers and corruption in China’s courts. International Political Science Review, 39 (5), 634–646.

Liu, X. X., Christopoulos, G. I., & Hong, Y. (2017). Beyond Black and White: Three decision frames of Bribery. In D. C. Robertson & P. M. Nichols (Eds.), Thinking about Bribery: Neuroscience, Moral Cognition and the psychology of Bribery (pp. 121–122). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316450765.006

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Lyne, M. M. (2007). Rethinking economies and institutions: The voter’s dilemma and democratic accountability. In H. Kitschelt & S. I. Wilkinson (Eds.), Patrons, clients and policies: Patterns of democratic accountability and political competition (pp. 159–181). Cambridge University Press.

Magaloni, B., Diaz-Cayeros, A., & Estevez, F. (2007). Clientelism and portfolio diversification: A model of electoral investment with applications to Mexico. In H. Kitschelt, & S. I. Wilkinson (Eds.), Patrons, clients and policies: Patterns of democratic accountability and political competition (pp. 182–205). Cambridge University Press.

Mendoza, R. U., Yap, J. K., Mendoza, G. A. S., Pizzaro, A. L. J., & Engelbrecht, G. (2022). Political dynasties and Terrorism: An empirical analysis using data on the Philippines. Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, 10 (2), 435–459. https://doi.org/10.18588/202210.00a266

Mişcoiu, S., & Kakdeu, L. M. (2021). Authoritarian clientelism: The case of the president’s ‘creatures’ in Cameroon. Acta Politica, 56 (4), 639–657. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41269-020-00188-y

Montiel, C. J. (2014). Philippine Political Culture and Governance . Retrieved June 8, 2016, from  http://www.ombudsman.gov.ph/UNDP4/philippine-political-culture-view-from-inside-the-halls-of-power/index.html

Mungiu-Pippidi, A. (2006). Corruption: Diagnosis and treatment. Journal of Democracy, 17 (3), 86–99.

Muno, W. (2010). Conceptualizing and Measuring Clientelism . Retrieved February 25, 2014, from  http://www.academia.edu/3024122/Conceptualizing_and_Measuring_Clientelism

Norton, A. R. (2007). The role of Hezbollah in Lebanese domestic politics. The International Spectator, 42 (4), 475–491. https://doi.org/10.1080/03932720701722852

Persson, A., Rothstein, B., & Teorell, J. (2013). Why Anticorruption reforms fail—systemic corruption as a collective action problem. Governance, 26 (3), 449–471. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0491.2012.01604.x

Persson, A., Rothstein, B., & Teorell, J. (2019). Getting the basic nature of systemic corruption right: A reply to Marquette and Peiffer. Governance, 32 (4), 799–810. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12403

Piattoni, S. (2001). Clientelism in historical and compartive perspective. Clientelism, interests, and democratic representation: The European experience in historical and comparative perspective (pp. 1–30). Cambridge University Press.

Pitt-Rivers, J. A. (1954). The people of the Sierra . Criterion Books. Retrieved February 24, 2014, from  http://archive.org/details/peopleofthesierr001911mbp

Quah, J. S. T. (2010). Curbing corruption in the Philippines: Is this an impossible dream? Philippine Journal of Public Administration, 54 (1–2), 1–43.

Quah, J. S. T. (2019). Combating police corruption in five Asian countries: A comparative analysis. Asian Education and Development Studies, 9 (2), 197–216. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-06-2019-0100

Quah, J. S. T. (2021). Breaking the cycle of failure in combating corruption in Asian countries. Public Administration and Policy, 24 (2), 125–138. https://doi.org/10.1108/PAP-05-2021-0034

Republic Act 7160: The Local Government Code of the Philippines, & 7160, R. A. (1991). Congress of the Philippines , Book III. Retrieved October 27, 2015, from  http://www.dilg.gov.ph/LocalGovernmentCode.aspx

Radeljić, B., & Đorđević, V. (2020). Clientelism and the abuse of power in the Western Balkans. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 22 (5), 597–612. https://doi.org/10.1080/19448953.2020.1799299

Rose-Ackerman, S. (1978). Corruption: A study in Political Economy . Academic Press: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.

Rothstein, B. (2011). Anti-corruption: The indirect ‘big bang’ approach. Review of International Political Economy, 18 (2), 228–250. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692291003607834

Sarkar, R. (2020). Corruption and Its Consequences. In R. Sarkar (Ed.), International Development Law: Rule of Law, Human Rights and Global Finance (pp. 355–418). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40071-2_8

Schaffer, F. C. (2002). What is Vote Buying? Empirical Evidence . Retrieved March 27, 2017, from  http://web.mit.edu/CIS/pdf/Schaffer_2.pdf

Scott, J. C., & Kerkvliet, B. J. (1973). How traditional rural patrons lose legitimacy: A theory with special reference to Southeast Asia . Université catholique de Louvain.

Scott, J. C. (1972). Patron-client politics and political change in Southeast Asia. The American Political Science Review, 66 (1), 91–113. https://doi.org/10.2307/1959280

Sidel, J. (1999). Capital, Coercion, and crime: Bossism in the Philippines . Stanford University Press.

Stokes, S., Dunning, T., Nazareno, M., & Brusco, V. (2013). Brokers, voters, and clientelism: The puzzle of Distributive politics . Cambridge University Press.

Tanaka, M., & Melendez, C. (2014). The future of Peru’s brokered democracy. In L. Diamond & D. A. Brun (Eds.), Clientelism, Social Policy, and the quality of democracy (pp. 1–14). JHU Press.

Thompson, M., & Batalla, E. V. C. (Eds.). (2018). Introduction. Routledge Handbook of the Contemporary Philippines (pp. 26–37). Taylor & Francis.

Transparency International (2023). 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index . Transparency.Org. Retrieved January 15, 2023, from  https://www.transparency.org/en/cpi/2021

US Department of State (2022). 2022 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report: Volume I - Drug and Chemical Control (As submitted to Congress) . Retrieved March 30, 2022, from  https://www.state.gov/2022-incsr-volume-i-drug-and-chemical-control-as-submitted-to-congress/

Varraich, A. (2014). Corruption: An Umbrella Concept (Working Paper Series 2014: 05 ) . The Quality of Government Institute.

Vuković, V. (2019). Political Economy of Corruption, Clientelism and Vote-Buying in Croatian Local Government. In Z. Petak & K. Kotarski (Eds.), Policy-Making at the European Periphery: The Case of Croatia (pp. 107–124). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73582-5_6

Weingrod, A. (1968). Patrons, patronage, and political parties. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 10 (4), 377–400.

Weiss, M. (2019). Chapter 8: Patranage Politics and parties in the Philippines: Insights from the 2016 elections. In P. D. Hutchcroft (Ed.), Strong Patronage, weak parties: The Case for Electoral System Redesign in the Philippines . Co Published With World Scientific. Retrieved January 23, 2023, from  https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/9789811212604_0008

WHO (2014). Global Status Report on Violence Prevention 2014 . World Health Organization. Retrieved November 8, 2017, from  https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241564793

Wolf, S. (2009). Subverting democracy: Elite rule and the limits to political participation in post-war El Salvador. Journal of Latin American Studies, 41 (3), 429–465.

Zeidan, D. (2017). Municipal Management and Service Delivery as Resilience Strategies: Hezbollah’s Local Development Politics in South-Lebanon. In Islam in a Changing MIddle East: Local Politics and Islamist Movements (pp. 37–40). The Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS). Retrieved December 2, 2018, from  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Melissa_Marschall/publication/320592315_Municipal_Service_Delivery_Identity_Politics_and_Islamist_Parties_in_Turkey/links/59ef4946a6fdccd492871a9f/Municipal-Service-Delivery-Identity-Politics-and-Islamist-Parties-in-Turkey.pdf#page=38

Download references

No funding.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

College of Overseas Education, Chengdu University, 2025 Chengluo Avenue, Longquanyi District, Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China

Andrew Guth

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

The sole author (Dr. Andrew Guth) performed all work for the paper, including conception and design; acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafting and revising; final approval for publication; and agrees to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Guth .

Ethics declarations

No prior presentation of the paper.

Ethical approval

Research adheres to the principles and guidance for human subjects research. Research was reviewed by the appropriate ethics committee on human subjects research (i.e., interviews). Committee deemed the research exempt from review.

Informed consent

Informed consent forms were given and discussed with each interviewee, included that there were no benefits to the interviewee other than helping the research and that there were no foreseen risks due to the confidentiality of the interview. Data collection procedures are discussed further in the methods section of the paper.

Human subjects research

All human subjects (interviewees) are protected by confidentiality.

Competing interests

No known conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Appendix: List of interviews

All identifying markers were removed to help ensure confidentiality. Interviews performed from 2013 to 2015.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Guth, A. The Philippines: a social structure of corruption. Crime Law Soc Change 82 , 223–247 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-024-10140-2

Download citation

Accepted : 16 January 2024

Published : 06 February 2024

Issue Date : September 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-024-10140-2

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Social bonds
• Vote buying
• Clientelism
• Philippines
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research