Although the governments in the Philippines have been legitimised by means of elections for decades, the country is ruled by a small number of political powerful families until today. For this elite, two groups are dangerous: Critical journalists and "left" movements and parties who press for political changes. A few hundred members of these groups were victims of political murders in the last few years.
These and other phenomena of political violence are subject of HSFK-Report 8/2007 "Formen und Dynamiken politischer Gewalt in den Philippinen" ("Forms and Dynamics of Political Violence in the Philippines") by Peter Kreuzer. At the end of his detailled studies he gives proposals for reforms, for example changes in the police and election law.