Social Polarization

Are you wondering why is there a continuous social unrest?

This Phenomenon is plaguing the country since Philippine history was just about to be written. Even before the inception it never ceases to bring turmoil in the society. This event toppled down former governments and conversely instituted new ones. Amazingly, as time progresses the resulting social unrest generates more power and continues destroying the country, its economy, its moral foundation and its integrity.

This upheaval was forged from the clashing of two opposing forces; that two groups of people that made up the Philippine social spectrum. One group is composed of the poor people, while the other group is made up of the wealthy ones, a social grouping based on the economic conditions of each group.

The former is always on the offensive. Being the underprivileged and the oppressed, they seek redress through redistribution of the national wealth by equal share. Conversely, the latter group is one that is on the defensive. Born of nobility, educated and apprised of their rights to inheritance they considered their wealth, their own birth right, hence, deems it beyond contestation.

The genesis of this battle dates back eons of years ago. History speaks of the battle between the Spaniards settlers and the native dwellers whose conflict finds its root from the improper distribution of wealth and resources. This event never left the nation since then. Like a perpetual storm that sweeps the social atmosphere of this nation for years, this unrest has been woven so intricately into the fibers of the society, a social problem hovering upon this nation unceasingly.

The socio-economic composition of the Philippines is made up of two extreme groupings; the poor and the wealthy. This social set up began during the period of hispanic occupation of the country. As a Spanish Colony, the Conquestadores drained all the country’s resources. Kept the wealth of the colony inside the vaults of the Spanish families, Whilst, dominating the rule upon this country, imports the corrupt system of governance from Spain. Consequently, the natives were deprived of their bounties from our motherland. Traces of this families or clans remain today. They're the majority of poor families, which were the remnants of the slave Indios. The wealthy families, who have control of our present economy, are the heirs of the insulares and the peninsulares. Their last names traced their roots from the hispanic race that once seized control over the country. Philippines, therefore, is predisposed to this social disturbance brought about by the unequal wealth distribution.

After the Spanish occupation came the Americans. Capitalism became the major economic reform in the country. Opportunism flourished; driven by the capitalist ideology Filipinos sought the opportunity to emancipate themselves from poverty. Education too played a vital role in this process. The former indios went to school and became professionals. This event paves the way for the restructuring the social composition of the country. The Filipino working professionals increased in number through time thst gave birth to a third group called the "middle class". This new group acted as middle ground between the two clashing groups of the poor and the wealthy. Filipinos belonging to the middle class are neither poor nor rich. The middle class obtained social standing in the community by virtue of their professions and had consolidated control of a fair share in the distribution of wealth.

With the emergence of the middle class the erstwhile social unrest came to a temporary halt (debatable according to some). As the number of professionals increased, among the poor families, poor Filipinos eventually were lifted from poverty and partaken sizeable distributive share of the national wealth. Resultantly, a new socio-economic structure was ormed by these three groups, which illustratively took the shape of a diamond. At the two pointed ends of the structure are the rich and the poor classes and at the bulging center is the middle class.

Unfortunately the defunct social stability did not last. The indios who were now self governing have not gone away from the shadows of their colonizers. Relative to the running of the newly founded government, was the adoption of the corrupt system of governance. The system of Capitalism from the Americans became the bedrock of the inherited practice of corruption in the government. Opportunism (of capitalist practice) spoused by protectionism (of hispanic origin) became an effective concoction for graft and corruption.

The rich Filipinos at one end of the social spectrum found the way to protect their wealth from being distributed to the other groups. The wealthy class tapped the practice of graft and corruption by bribing officials in the government and ensured that every policies formulated and every legislations passed would be protective of their resources from being redistributed. Worst, when the wealthy became officials of the government themselves, they have thereby permanently sealed their wealth away from the other classes. Graft and corruption became lucrative business among the Wealthy politicians and their wealthy cohorts who ran the government. Having been deprived again of the concealed national wealth, the poor people reignited the flames of the olden battle for the equal distribution of wealth.

Several episodes of social unrest again engulfed the social atmosphere. By repeating history, the social disturbance that once transpired in the past, finds its way back to the present time. The ancient battle between the poor and the wealthy begun , which was triggered by the unfair distribution of the country's resources. The diamond structure formed by the three social groupings eroded as lesser professionals from the middle class could maintain a decent way of living. Majority of these working professionals became poor. The former diamond-shaped social structure changed into new structure, taking the pyramid shape. The re-formation into a pyramidal social structure disrupted the status quo that heightened displeasure among the people, consequently, social unrest ensued once again. With the new socio-economic structure in place of the former one, the middle ground at the center vanished. More and more middle class people turned pauper in the process. The poor people increased in number, which was to become the base of the pyramid. Middle class in the society decreased while, rich people became wealthier. The wealthy people were at the apex of the pyramid looking like supreme amongst the other Filipinos.

Continuously unchecked, the imbalance distribution of wealth would ultimately destroy social order. If the rich people continue on amassing wealth more than their share in the distribution and the poor people kept on becoming pauper and with lesser or none at all share in the wealth distribution, these two forces would eventually collide heads on.

The impending chaos in the social order is imminent because of the phenomenon this country is experiencing called Social Polarization. As the group of the poor people becomes poorer and the group of wealthy people becomes wealthier the middle class between these opposing sides melts. The worst scenario is that there would be no middle class left in the social structure. The intense pulling apart of the two opposing ends and the frequent violent collision of the two contradicting forces in the social spectrum is Social Polarization in the active phase.

With the present socio-economic conditions prevailing among Filipinos there is indeed a social polarization. There was no more middle class left in the social structure. It vaporized in the process of polarization. The once middle class composed of the working professionals could hardly be construed a distinct and a separate class on its own. Having meager salaries and income which could not cope up with the high cost of living these people belong to the group of the poor people. Salary and cost of living are factors that affect the determination of whether or not an individual lives a decent life, after all, people in the middle class are supposed to lead a decent living. The present plight of the working professionals reveals that they do not have income enough to support their needs. In reality, therefore, working professionals are poor people.

Social polarization destroys social structures and brings down social order. Such that, any demonstrations in the streets or mass gatherings of angry mob or any other social unrest, are prelude to a much bigger and disastrous event brought by the continuing collision of the two extreme forces of the rich and the poor, embattled with each other for the equal distribution of the national wealth. Unless, an effective and concrete solution to the problem of polarization shall be put in place, social unrest shall stay in the country for good until a new system shall have been born from the refueled ancient battle for wealth.

God bless Philippines.