Since the beginnings of the hacienda economy about 150 years ago the local oligarchs in Negros Occidental, a province of the Philippines, have established themselves not only as supreme economic powerholders, but also as politically, socially and culturally dominant force. Even though the mainstay of their grip on power is economic control, rule by law, and political office they regularly also take recourse to intimidation and violence. The dominant position of oligarchy in local and national politics dooms any strategy that aims at their political disempowerment to failure. Efforts at reform should be scaled down to taming the oligarchs by bringing them under the rule of law and thereby replacing the current practice of rule by law. Given the social practice that effectively puts the elite above the law, this already is a Herculean task.
In PRIF report No. 112 "Domination in Negros Occidental: Variants on a Ruling Oligarchy"Peter Kreuzer critically analyses the structures that enable oligarchy in Negros Occidental. He arrives at the conclusion that only a robust implementation of reliable law enforcement which operates independently of political inference will provide a solution for these issues, even though it may not help to overcome oligarchy.
This Report can be ordered at PRIF for EUR 10,- and is also available as free PDF download.