This panel covers transitions and transformations in various relevant fields that concern Filipinos living locally and abroad. Covering issues such the correlation of information on vote-buying and selling in the Philippines, the impacts of the biggest change in the Philippines' decentralization framework since the passage of the 1991 Local Government Code, the thriving gig economy and the current conditions of the participants, as well as the determinants of international immigration among Filipina labor migrants. Although vast at first sight, these topics share the main underlying premise - the thriving relationship of these various players in a power-driven environment plagued by constant shifts in structure. Covering the period of pre and current COVID19 pandemic, these papers provide various snapshots of the Filipinos’ various realities as they move onwards in an environment riddled with drastic changes, crippling bureaucracies and ever-changing ecosystems. As these various players traverse these landscapes, we see the corresponding changes in social, political and geographic processes that need to be recognized and properly addressed
Access to Information and Other Correlates of Vote Buying and Selling: Insights from Philippine Data
Tristan Canare
Department of Economics
School of Social Sciences
Ateneo de Manila University
Ronald U. Mendoza
Department of Economics
School of Social Sciences
Ateneo de Manila University
Access to information is a key factor influencing political behaviour and decisions. This study contributes to the literature in this area by turning to a unique dataset from a survey of low-income voters in Metro Manila, Philippines. It empirically examined the relationship between access to information and vote selling behavior by low-income voters. It also studied other correlates of vote selling and the possible factors linked to receiving an offer. The results suggest that the quantity of information has no significant relationship with the likelihood of accepting the offer and voting for the candidate for whom the offer was made. However, the quality of information does matter. In particular, access to sources of ‘good quality information’ is negatively associated with completing the vote selling transaction (i.e., accepting the offer and voting for the candidate). This study also found evidence that when money is used for vote buying, it appears to be targeted at those with greater needs, confirming the literature that vote buying activities tend to be well targeted at poor and low-income communities. Unsurprisingly, vote buying offers are more likely in areas where elections are closely contested, and they are also more likely in socially cohesive communities. Our findings also suggest that vote buying may not necessarily be effective in the sense that it encourages only few voters to change their candidate preference. This coheres with earlier studies suggesting that vote buying and selling merely caps a longstanding patron–client relationship between politicians and low-income voters.
From Dependency to Autonomy: Local Governance, Fiscal Capacity, and the Outlook for LGU performance in the post-COVID and post-Mandanas era
Jerik Cruz
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ateneo de Manila University
Enrico La Vina
University of California, Davis
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The COVID-19 pandemic threatens to reverse progress on the Philippines’ realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)— yet the upcoming implementation of the Supreme Court’s Mandanas ruling via Executive Order 138, s. 2021 will establish local government units as even more central players in the country’s recovery efforts. We show that while commentary on EO 138’s roll-out has focused on the opportunities and risks linked with the move to “full decentralization,” a crucial yet underappreciated determinant of how LGUs will perform in the post-COVID, post-Mandanas transition will be their ability to maximize the fiscal powers afforded to them by the Philippines’ current decentralization framework. Beyond challenges posed by likely contractions in central-local transfers starting in 2023, we empirically document via hierarchical modeling of administrative data. how improved local fiscal capacity is closely associated with numerous positive governance spillovers. These spillovers including (a) a more pronounced service-delivery orientation among LGUs, (b) strengthened incentives to foster local economic development, and (c) improved public financial management and fiscal accountability. Results from a multi-part, online survey featuring responses from 1,027 unique LGUs corroborate these findings from our hierarchical modeling exercise, in addition to salient disparities in terms of technical capacity and preparedness for the Mandanas ruling. Despite a small number of local fiscal overachievers, we highlight LGU’s long-term decline in local revenue generation performance following the passage of the 1992 Local Government Code as a crucial frontier for Philippine political economy research, as well as a priority area for policy action.
Adopting Miller’s First Principles for Online Food Delivery Platforms’ Labor Regulation in the Philippines
Jayvy R. Gamboa
Ateneo de Manila University
In the past decade, the sharing economy has rapidly perpetuated in every modern society leaving critical sectors, such as labor, unprotected from the effects of novel relationships arising from such industries. In the Philippines, such phenomenon is starkly manifested in the experience of delivery riders of online food delivery platforms. The paper explores the nature of the delivery riders’ work arrangement using the triangular relationship associated with the gig economy and further identifies the gap in legal protections to paint a picture of what really is at stake in this issue. Adopting the first principles introduced by Miller (2016), a selection of bills in the 18th Congress that seek to regulate work conditions and standards for delivery riders are assessed against the building blocks of future regulation in a sharing economy industry—the findings of which are not entirely promising.
The Call Center Industry: A Destination for Local Migrant Workers
Sherwin Toring
Zamboanga Peninsula Polytechnic State University
The call center has been one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Its tremendous growth can be seen not just in the huge revenues that it generates but also in the wide employment opportunities that it offers especially for people in developing countries such as the Philippines. From an initial look, consequently, one may observe that the offshore industry is physically concentrated in the capital region or metropolitan areas such as Manila and Cebu. Such situation then prompts the question of how the industry is reaching out or affecting those who are in the countryside. In an attempt to answer this question, and applying the basic principle of phenomenology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine individuals who have come from different provinces but have all sojourned to Cebu to work as call center agents. The interview revolved on their reasons for working in the industry, the challenges they encounter, and the impact of such employment on their lives. The study then shows that the local migrant workers experience challenges that are unique to their situations and on top of the ones encountered by any typical call center agent. In addition, their presence in the industry provides a glimpse of some of the negative realities about the work conditions in the peripheries such as the issue of lower salaries and nepotism. Conversely, the impact of the industry on these individuals can be generally considered as positive and can be seen in personal, economic, and socio-cultural context.
The Determinants of Migration: Italian Regional Factors and the Relationship with Filipino Migrant Labor Supply
Maire Carroline Magante
Department of Economics
School of Social Sciences
Ateneo de Manila University
Throughout the years, the segmentation of the Italian labor market across regions, classes, genders, skill-levels and sectors has benefited from the supply of migrant labor. Among these migrant laborers, Filipinos met the demand for labor across various sectors where native supply is insufficient for local demand. Nevertheless, despite demand, the migration inflow fluctuates in response to variations in economic and geographic conditions. This study investigates the region-specific drivers of the annual inflow of Filipino migrants to the various regions in Italy. Using the annual arrivals of labor migrants from the Philippines to Italy for the period of 2007-2017, this paper uses static and dynamic estimation techniques by utilizing regional economic and demographic indices. The results show adherence to and diversion from migration theories and expected movements. Regardless of the substantial regional differences, the Filipino migrant stock is the most stable and significant variable in influencing regional migration inflow.