“It [the bourgeoisie] has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom – Free Trade.” - Philosopher and Writer Karl Marx
- The comprador big bourgeoisie is the top 1% of Philippine society. They are the oppressive and exploiting class, for they hold most of the power over politics and economy, and they hold the means of production in the country.
- This class directly serves the capitalists of the imperialist countries, and in turn, the ruling class is nurtured by them. Sections of the comprador bourgeoisie are allied with foreign investors, multi-national corporations, bankers, and military interests (“Comprador bourgeoisie meaning”, n.d.), and it becomes impossible for people of this class to join the current anti-imperialist movement. (Flores et al., 2008)
- This class oppresses the national bourgeoisie, petite bourgeoisie, labor laborers, and agricultural workers in Philippine society.
Ang Uring Mang-aapi (The Oppressive Class)
This class holds all power in society mainly because of their U.S. imperialist backing, their unfathomable wealth of billions, and their social status. Despite only being 1% in society, a huge percentage of the country’s wealth belongs to them.
A semifeudal economy has resulted from the interaction of the U.S. monopoly capitalism and the Philippine economy. The Filipino comprador big bourgeoisie serves as the chief trading and financial agent of foreign capitalists and acts as the most powerful exploiting class. One of the most famous comprador big bourgeoisie in the Philippines is Coca-Cola Bottlers, Inc.—a multinational organization by The Coca-Cola Company that plays a major role in the consumer goods industry. (Flores et al., 2008) Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) was run by San Miguel Corporation in the Philippines to produce the well-known and well-loved Coke; later on, the Coca-Cola Company acquired 65% of San Miguel’s shares. (CNS Media, 2007)
San Miguel Corporation along with a host of other corporations such as Ayala House of Investments, Atlas Consolidated Mining, Atlas Fertilizers, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Bislig Bay Lumber, Central Azucarera de Don Pedro, F.G.U. Insurance Group, Herald-Mabuhay, Interisland Broadcasting Corporation, Industrial Textiles Manufacturing, International Engineering, Nutritional Products, Paper Industries Corporation of the Philippines, Phelps Dodge, People’s Bank and Trust Company, Rheem of the Philippines, Radio Mindanao Network, Soriamont, STAATS are in the hands of only fifty big comprador-landlord families. Among the biggest representatives of the comprador big bourgeoisie are the Sorianos, Ayalas, Zobels, Elizaldes, Aranetas, Lopezes, Ortigases, Yutivos, Roxas-Chuas, Cojuangcos, Montelibanos. The wealthiest of this class are the Sorianos, Ayalas, Zobels, and Roxases who serves as the agent of U.S. imperialism and clerical organizations. (Guerrero, 1970)
Moreover, bureaucrat capitalists are comprised of corrupt government officials who provide immediate armed security to comprador and landlord rule. They are grouped with the comprador bourgeoisie. Under their rule, corrupt government officials can perpetrate graft and corruption while protecting their own capitalistic interests. (Guerrero, 1970)
These big businesses are also comprised of high-ranking officials who are in direct service of the comprador bourgeoisie and international powers and big corporations—they are the high-ranking managers, big corporation lawyers, big accountants, labor dealers, and highly-paid reactionary publicists and intellectuals. They adhere to the same ideologies of the comprador, landlords, and bureaucrat capitalists. (Guerrero, 1970)
Monopolies and Market Concentration in the Philippines
The Philippine economy lacks competition because of the power and wealth being concentrated in the top 1%.
According to the World Bank, the Philippine economy is hampered by monopolies, duopolies, and oligopolies. The economy is more concentrated, lacking fair market competition, than other economies in the region, namely in the sector of electricity, telecommunications, and transport. (Manabat, 2019) In the sector of electricity, Meralco is a prominent monopoly of the Lopezes. Founded in 1903 by Americans and bought by Eugenio Lopez Sr. in 1961, it became the first-ever billion peso company in the Philippines in 1969 and established the LRT system that Filipinos use for public transport. (“Monopoly companies in the Philippines: Those who are unchallenged”, n.d.) The telecom industry is an oligopoly with only three major players: PLDT, Globe, and BayanTel. Globe and PLDT subsidiary Smart controls cellular phone services, eating up Piltel and Globe eating up Islacom (now TM). (Casiño, n.d.)
Monopolies or an economy where only a few corporations control the economy is not only detrimental to the economy of the country, but it also further separates the rich and the poor and makes it hard for the consumer to find better services and goods and for the aspiring business owner of the petite bourgeoisie to establish their own. These monopolies are established to eliminate competition in the market, and the lack of free-market competition is not ideal for a country. (McWhinney, 2021)
Consumers purchasing from a monopoly often find they are paying unjustifiably high prices for inferior-quality goods or services. This is because they have no other competition to fight with, and they can price their products however they desire. (McWhinney, 2021) According to Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, “If there were no competition in the creation of a specific product, there would be no reason to focus on creating a quality product. Price could remain high, regardless of quality, because there would be no substitutes.” (Mrs. Thigpen, n.d.)
Monopolies are equally problematic for small business owners of the petite bourgeoisie. The lack of competition and the control of the ruling class on the competition makes it impossible for the petite bourgeoisie to start a new, small business. (McWhinney, 2021) Despite them being part of the capitalist class, they are ultimately oppressed by the comprador big bourgeoisie.
Lastly, knowing that workers will have fewer places to sell their labor, monopolies pay workers less and exploit them for their labor and intellectual capacity. Furthermore “monopoly, like most forms of concentrated power, is often brought to bear against the least advantaged in an unequal society.” And monopoly further aggravates existing disparities in society. (“Anti-monopoly basics: Income inequality & monopoly”, n.d.)
Monopolies, oligopolies, and the alliances that the uber-rich have among themselves further the separation of the wealthy, the middle class, and the poor. According to Credit Suisse (2019) in its annual global wealth report, the Philippines has the 9th worst gap between the rich and the poop, soring an 83.7% on the Gini Index. (“Gini Index: Philippines has the world’s 9th worst gap between rich and poor”, 2019) The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the rich-poor divide in Philippine society. (De Vera, 2020)
"It is not low growth that is increasing inequality but the rise of market concentration [referring to the market share companies can claim] and the death of competition," Jonathan Tepper and Denise Hearn wrote in their 2018 book, "The Myth of Capitalism." (Feloni, 2019) This addresses the oligopoly problem that the United States suffers from and the same problem that the Philippines—coming as the most oligopolistic country in the region—suffers from. (Department of the Interior and Local Government, 2021)
Oligarchs and the Uber-Rich in the Philippines
Oligarchy is a system of the few, by the few, and for the few. Oligarchs are small and privileged groups of people who exercise their power, influence, and wealth for corrupt and selfish purposes. (Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia, 2020) According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, oligarchy is a political rule that involves a small political class—the bourgeoisie for example—who rules in and for its own interest, not for the public’s welfare or justice. (Luna and Rubio, 2020)
Despite President Duterte promising that he’ll make the oligarchs fall during his term, people have voiced out that he didn’t dismantle the oligarchy but coddles and protects oligarchs as he benefits from their patronage." Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chairperson Danilo Ramos expressed, "The Lopezes, Pangilinans, and even the Ayalas are also among the oligarchs. While 99% of the population reels from the staggering socio-economic effects of the pandemic, this 1% have their wealth intact, are barely scathed, and even continue to rake in profits. Even big landlords and landgrabbers thrive under Duterte." (Luna and Rubio, 2020)
The president seems to be a hypocrite as he builds his own political dynasty while saying that he has dismantled the oligarchy in the Philippines. His attacks against the oligarchy are “selective at best and duplicitous at worse,” and he seems to have embedded himself in his chosen group of oligarch-friends. (Luna and Rubio, 2020)
The Aquinos, Sorianos, Ayalas, Zobels, Elizaldes, Aranetas, Lopezes, Ortigases, Yutivos, Roxas-Chuas, Cojuangcos, Montelibanos, Tans, Gokongweis and Sys are the oligarchs that the Filipino people know. (Guerrero, 1970 & Generalao and Pedreso, 2016) The Marcoses are also oligarchs by definition, and the Duterte family may also become one.
Per what the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos expressed, the ills of the Old Society—what he called the Philippines before martial law—were due to the oligarchs who held power, wealth, and influence only to become an oligarch himself. (Generalao and Pedreso, 2016) By all means, oligarchs are to blame for the poverty of the Filipinos. However, he ruled for 20 years where he, his family, and his cronies held power over the Philippines. After the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution, properties of Marcos cronies were sequestered which reached 223 billion pesos. (Generalao and Pedreso, 2016) …Hypocrisy.
They “practically owned everything”, up to a Guinness World Record of the “Greatest Robbery of a Government” which estimated their corruption at 5 billion dollars to 10 billion dollars. (Guinness World Records, n.d.) Marcos took part in traditional corruption but ran a system of crony capitalism with oligarchs during his regime. (Punongbayan, 2019)
During his term, coconuts were monopolized by Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco, bananas by Antonio Floirendo, and sugar by Roberto Benedicto. He also issued decrees that gave special privileges to his cronies, namely Lucio Tan who secured substantial concessions for his beer and cigarette manufacturing businesses and Juan Ponce Enrile who enjoyed concessions in the logging industry. Marcos also got 30 million dollars as Herminio Disini arranged the construction of the useless Bataan Nuclear Power Plant and received $50 million in commissions. (Punongbayan, 2019)
Special levies were beneficial for Marcos and his cronies. Marcos imposed a tax on the coconut industry by presidential decree. Supposedly, the revenues of about P93 billion from the coco levy were meant to improve the welfare of coconut farmers but ultimately went into the pockets of the Marcoses and friends. (Punongbayan, 2019)
Across the country’s major industries, this took place which fattened the pockets of the oligarchs and oppressed the workers and farmers of every industry. “Marcos and his cronies were co-conspirators in a systematic scheme to loot the Philippine economy.” (Punongbayan, 2019)
In 1998, Imelda said in an Inquirer interview: “We practically own everything in the Philippines, from electricity, telecommunications, airlines, banking, beer and tobacco, newspaper publishing, television stations, shipping, oil and mining, hotels and beach resorts, down to coconut milling, small farms, real estate, and insurance.” (Pimentel, 2016) They practically admitted to their corruption.
In the coming 2022 election, the Dutertes seem to want to keep in power as the daughter of President Rodrigo Duterte runs for vice president alongside Ferdinand Romualdez “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for president under Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD). (Cervantes, 2021)
The uber-rich families, the ruling families, and the bourgeoisie continue to stay in power by concentrating power and wealth among allied oligarch- or bourgeoisie-families.
Concentrating Power and Wealth
By concentrating their power and wealth among themselves, the bourgeoisie continues to hold their place as the top 1% in Philippine society.
Rich Filipinos are not paying their fair share of taxes, with some people of the capitalist class hiding some of their income. Several Filipinos, especially professionals and self-employed businessmen, are evading taxes because of their ability to hide parts of their income. (Punongbayan, 2017)
Furthermore, the Philippine tax system is only “mildly” progressive or even regressive where poor Filipinos effectively pay a larger fraction of their income in taxes instead of the wealthy Filipinos. For example tax rates on capital incomes which are mostly of the rich are so low in comparison to the tax rates of ordinary workers; thus, the capital income tax rates should be increased to make the rich give back to the country and not aggravate the rich-poor divide. Moreover, taxes on petroleum products have been constant for many years which is advantageous to the rich who consume more petroleum products. (Punongbayan, 2017)
Karl Marx also believes that the family of these dynasties play a big role in the wealthy getting wealthier. He expressed, “The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation to a mere money relation.” For the bourgeoisie, the family is an institution where they pass down their private property and wealth to keep the wealth within themselves and pass it on to the next generation. This reproduces class inequality in society because wealth is not distributed among the masses. (Thompson, 2014) Oligarch families also form friendships, alliances, and even family relations among themselves to keep the wealth in the top 1%. For instance, the Cojuangco and Aquino clans who were from Capampangan and Tagalog stock in Tarlac province have intermarried. At times, their social agenda, business interests, and political visions throughout Philippine history have coincided or as well as collided. (Vibal, 2020)
Lastly, financial advisors always say, “Investing will make you rich!” without considering the inequality that is present in society. How will the poor invest if they do not have the capital to invest in stocks and similar endeavors? They continue to be oppressed in society.
The Oppression
They oppress their workers of the proletariat and the petite bourgeoisie by exploiting their work. Because of the profit-oriented nature of capitalism, the bourgeoisie steals from the worker because they do not pay them the amount equivalent to their labor. They exploit the labor and the brain of the employee to get wealthier. (CrashCourse, 2017 & Nolita Werrett, 2016)
Please be informed that the next paragraphs would mention brutalities against the Filipino proletariat. Please read at your own risk.
They do not stop with this, for those who stand up for their rights get punished and even killed. In the Hacienda Luisita owned by the Cojuangos, the lives of farmers who protested were taken. (Inquirer Columns, 2011) On November 6, 2004, about five thousand sugar farmworkers and five hundred mill workers organized a strike in demand of reinstating 327 workers laid off by the Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) management. Tension had been rising between the union and the police force for several days, and this ended on the shooting done by the police force which lasted two minutes and took thirteen lives of the peasantry. (Olea, 2004)
Recently, on December 16, 2021, workers under Soft Touch Development Corp., the manufacturers of Ideal Spaghetti, protested against the laying off of 50 workers who were also part of the workers’ union. They were hit using truncheons by the Valenzuela City PNP and arrested. (Espiritu, 2021 & Espiritu, 2021)
Fellow businessmen of the petite and national bourgeoisie are also oppressed by the comprador big bourgeoisie. Because of the top 1% keeping most land and wealth among themselves, the other businessmen often fail or are in constant fear of bankruptcy. The comprador big bourgeoisie is like a wall that forbids them from achieving success.
The Animosity
The comprador big bourgeoisie is who the masses are in conflict with and “its political attitude is violently opposed to the national and democratic aspirations of the Filipino people.” (Guerrero, 1970) Sabi nga ng marami, “Ang 1% ang tunay na kalaban.”
Summary
- The top 1% of society is the comprador big bourgeoisie of Philippine society. Wealth is concentrated among themselves. They are what the Filipino masses are in class conflict with.
- They are comprised of oligarch families, cronies, big business owners, and bureaucrat capitalists.
- They oppress workers of the proletariat and employees from the petite bourgeoisie. Those who unionize or radicalize receive the violence of the comprador big bourgeoisie. They also oppress the businesses of fellow businessmen from the petite and national bourgeoisie classes by being the landlords and monopolies who keep power for themselves.
