Regionalism in the PH, Philippines: Opinion on Attacking one of the Types of Inequality (Coursework Sample)

Regionalism in the PH
Philippines, being an archipelago have had its own positive and negative effects. The scattered characteristic of its islands make natural resources from our water abundant as ever. However though, being rich in natural resources from water has its own consequences. Being an archipelago, Philippines have faced Regionalism as a problem even in colonial times.
Regionalism is the theory or practice of regional rather than central systems of administration or economic, cultural or political affiliation. In the Philippine context, regionalism can be found in cultural norms, historical context and in political favoritisms. Regionalism has been one of the problems Philippines have been facing for a very long time. It is a subgroup of Inequality wherein it manifests in even the most little part of our lives.
First concept I would like to discuss is the concept called imperial manila. Being the capital city of our beloved country the Philippines, it can be noticed that Manila is the center of everything politically, economically, culturally and even linguistically (source). In the following paragraphs I would show you how Imperial Manila manifests in our daily lives even though we are not from the capital city itself.
Politically, there is a perception that Manila has disproportionate control of our country’s governance. Imperial Manila has been a metonym for a national government whose presence and concern has not been felt in many parts of the country. With being Manila as the political center, policymakers from the capital are the one benefiting from unitary form of government our system has. We can also analyze this form of Regionalism to be a synthesis of a new regionalism as all Manila policy makers could unionize to have majority of the vote in the congress. Therefore we can conclude that this could be used as a scheme to remain in power; the Manila policy makers. As of December 2015, there are only 2 senators in Mindanao and 3 senators at Visayas.
Economically, we can observe that Manila has the most accessible goods in market as per other regions, In your nearest barrio you need to ride a 15 min jeepney ride to go eat at your favorite Jollibee restaurant and there are no other alternative options while in Manila you have a variety to choose from with the leisure of just walking because they’re just nearby. Economic programs and wealth distribution laws gives more advantage to the citizens of the industrialized capital than the community provinces. Labor wages being higher in Manila compared to other provinces.
Culturally, there has been a perception that Manila is the center of Philippine society. Manila as the home of mass media companies gives it more attention on news and TV shows. In historical context, Manila is always the center of narrative and its neighboring regions. This makes an impression globally that the Manila culture is the culture of the entire Philippines. With all of this in context, it creates a marginalized feeling to the people living in the provinces. The feeling that they are in the minority, that they don’t belong to a Filipino culture but a sub-Filipino culture.
The last dimension is linguistics. There is a concept called linguistic imperialism on which Imperial Manila has manifested throughout the years. The tagalong language, being one of the many major languages in our country the Philippines has become the national language as per it is only the native language in some parts of Luzon. This has created many barriers for our countrymen as they grew up feeling comfortable with other people that speaks the same language as they are as it perpetuates a sense of belongingness.
Additionally, I could add up to other examples on which Imperial Manila manifests in our daily lives such as the perception that Academic Institutions from Manila are better than other Academic Institutions in other parts of the country. Concerts, conventions and conferences are mostly being held in the heart of the country. However, I find my arguments and evidence enough to give you a framework of idea on my issue.
Another form of regionalism that is very persistent in our country the Philippines is the concept of Regional Bloc Voting. In elections, people from the same region as per the candidate will vote for the said candidate despite of his/her poor performance in the government and cases of graft and corruption. Analyzing this, we could root this with the patriarchal paradigm that is very prevalent in our society. The father being the one who makes choices for the family, he has the power to influence his family or clan to vote for his preferred candidate. Combining this with the descriptions of being in a community wherein you feel a sense of belongingness, interrelatedness even though you are not family members and etc. The community then chooses its own leader to represent them, following and believing what he/she says. This could be a product of a bad mentality and vulnerability to manipulation because the candidate doesn’t need to persuade everybody as he only needs to persuade the head of the family/community.
One of the most old and still existing regionalism in the Philippines is the war in Mindanao, the demand of Muslims autonomy for their own region. The resistance to imperialism, colonialism, and Christianization, is an example of regional and religious conflict. The creation of Morro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and Morro National Liberation Front (MNLF) because of the apathetic behavior our late Pres...