Corporatism: Realities in the Philippines

Hung-Hwei Liu

Hung-Hwei Liu Aletheia University

Keywords: corporatism, labor group, industry, corruption, cronyism, labor disputes, Philippines

Abstract

The concept of corporatism is seen as a viable mechanism toward economic growth in the Philippines, with its democratic form of government. Currently, the economy of the country is rising as a number of business process outsourcing companies are investing in most of its capital cities. However, there is still a question as to the sustainability of the economic growth of the country. The study uses corporatism as the framework to see how it fits in the Philippine context as it entails tripartism among the three major actors—the labor group, the industry, and the government—in carrying their best to uplift the economic status of the country.

The findings of the study showed that the relationship between the three is far from the ideals of corporatism. The labor group is the underprivileged interest group as manifested in most cases of labor dispute wherein they received unfavorable decisions over the industry. Meanwhile, the industry enjoys most of the advantages in terms of labor disputes, labor-policy formulation, and other perks from the government. This is one of the realities of the country for the reason that the owners and officers of these giant industries are cronies, relatives of the government officials and politicians. On the other hand, the government seems to lack the ultimate power and control. It appears that most of the economic policies that are being formulated are under the influence of the giant industries. There is indeed a big challenge for the three major economic players in the Philippines if the interest of the economic growth of the country is considered.

Author Biography

Hung-Hwei Liu, Aletheia University

Hung-Hwei Liu is an Associate Professor at Aletheia University, Taiwan. He earned his doctorate and master’s degrees from the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom and Bachelor’s degree from the Department of Political Science at the National Taiwan University. His research interests are in Political Economy, Digital Governance, and East Asia Studies.