Political Economy: Role of Campaigning in 2007 Election in Cebu, Philippines

Running head: POLITICAL ECONOMY
Political Economy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1POLITICAL ECONOMY
Introduction
In the global socio, political and economic framework, especially in the contemporary
framework, the governments of different countries in the global framework play considerably
important roles, especially in monitoring and running different sectors of the countries, such
that the overall welfare of all the citizens of the countries are maximised and the country
moves on the path of prosperity (Johnson, Reynolds and Mycoff 2015). Thus, building a
proper government is of utmost importance for the overall welfare of the country as much of
the country’s social, political, economic, commercial and overall stability and well being
depends on how the government of the concerned country functions.
The political system in the countries play an immense role in the aspect of formation
of government and its action and operational frameworks. “Politics”, by the means of the
term is the process which determines the meaning of governance in a country. There are
various ways of building up the governing bodies of a country (Beiner 2013). However, in
the contemporary world, with majority of the countries being representative democracies, one
of the most popular way of forming governing bodies is by the method of elections. In this
method, each of the aspiring political groups put forward their representative candidates as
the potential leaders and the eligible population of the country, with voting rights, choose
their leaders from these representative candidates and hold their chosen candidates
accountable for the purpose of fulfilment of their needs and necessities (Graham, Shipan and
Volden 2013).
The elections and the results of such elections hold immense importance in
determining the nature of the government formed in a country and its credibility and
performance. However, the results of the election in turn, depend on many factors and the
strategies taken by the contending political parties for winning over one another (McNabb

2POLITICAL ECONOMY
2015). One such strategy of immense significance, especially in the contemporary period is
the aspect of political campaigning, done by the political groups to promote their parties in
front of the voters of a country or a region. Keeping this into consideration, the concerned
essay tries to discuss elaborately the National and Local elections held in Philippines on May
14, 2007, thereby emphasizing specifically on the region of Cebu and highlighting the roles
played by the different campaigning initiatives taken by the competing candidates and the
implications and importance of such campaigns on the results of the election in Cebu.
Local and National Election in Philippines (2007)
Philippines, officially known as the Republic of Philippines, is one of the most
prominent sovereign countries in the South East Asian region with a population of around
100 million and is one of the oldest republics in the South East Asian zone, with a well
developed and multi-lateral and multi-person political structure in the country.
Political structure of Philippines
The country of Philippines has a primarily democratic form of political framework,
with the presence of democratic government in the form of constitutional republic and there
also prevails a presidential system in the governing framework of the country. The country is
government as a single or unitary state, with the exception of the presence of the Autonomous
Region in Muslin Mindanao. However, in the recent periods, attempts have been made to
change the governing system to a federal or a parliamentary one (Tomsa and Ufen 2013).
The political framework of the country, apart from the presence of the President, as
the head of the state and also the head of the government, consists of a bicameral Congress,
which in turn is composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Senate, in its
turn serves as the Upper House of the governing framework of the country, with the elected
members of the same serving six-years term and the House of Representatives serve as the

3POLITICAL ECONOMY
Lower House of the Congress with three-year service term for each of the elected members of
the concerned body. The members of the Senate of the country gets elected at large
(Steinberg 2018). However, the members of the House of Representatives are elected from
the legislative districts as well as through sector-wise representations.
The election of 2007: Implications
Although elections are held at regular intervals in the country, at both the national as
well as local levels, however, the national and local election, which took place in the country
on May 14, 2007 hold considerable significance, especially in terms of the dynamics and pre-
as well as aftermath of the elections, the impacts of which were felt by all the stakeholders in
the country. This is primary because of the immense turmoil created by the election process
and the clash between the political parties and their contending candidates (Timberman
2016). The dynamics of the election, especially in the Cebu, is especially noticeable in this
aspect.
The National and Local election, which was help in the country, on May 14, 2007,
had half the seats of the Senate and all the seats of the House of Representatives at stake
along with nearly thousands of municipal as well as local positions of the country. However,
this election in the country witnessed extreme violence and inter-party clashes which led to
high level of casualties across the nation, with nearly 128 deaths and 148 wounded due to the
violence related to the election process (Abinales and Amoroso 2017).
The results of the election were strikingly surprising, with the devastating defeat of
the Administration’s Team Unity and the overpowering of the same by the Genuine
Opposition, as the latter won seven of the ten seats which were available. The senate saw the
rise of Antonio Trillanes (IV) and the ruling coalition of Arroyo got strengthened in the
House of Commons with a victory in 88% to 90% of the congressional districts in the country