POWER FORTIFIED BY FEAR: PATRON-CLIENT RELATIONS, IMPUNITY, AND ELECTORAL KILLING IN MAGUINDANAO, PHILIPPINES

Abstract

The objective of this research is to address the inquiry: what are the societal circumstances conducive to the perpetration of electoral killing in local Philippine politics? The fundamental argument is that within a society permeated by fear, potent political authority operates as a societal factor wherein the phenomenon of impunity, facilitated by the deployment of private militias and robust patron-client affiliations, engenders an environment conducive to electoral killings. The primary case examined in this research pertains to the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, situated in the Maguindanao province on Mindanao Island, a locale distinguished by the Ampatuan family's consolidation of political dominance spanning five decades. Leveraging the distinct social milieu of Maguindanao, the Ampatuan dynasty capitalized on and sustained political supremacy. The region's protracted history of Islamic uprisings constrained the government's capacity to uphold peace, thereby enabling the Ampatuan clan to secure approval from the central government to establish paramilitary groups. These paramilitary units, acting as the Ampatuan's private militia, employed brutal force to instill a climate of intimidation. The existence of insurgent activities and brutal private militias empowered the Ampatuan family to assert unassailable political control in the region, consequently facilitating the cultivation of entrenched patron-client ties. The robust informal network of the Ampatuans precluded state entities from effectively probing and penalizing their illicit deeds, thereby perpetuating a climate of terror in society. Meanwhile, victims responded to political violence by mobilizing civil society initiatives, including calls for public awareness regarding such violence, commemorative events, and advocacy for governmental allocation of resources for legislation addressing political violence. Thus, the collective endeavors of victims can be interpreted within the framework of individual-level psychological convalescence and the broader context of democratization, influencing the institutionalization of political violence.