An Anarchy of Families

State and Family in the Philippines

Andrei Miguel S. Jose
About the Author
• Alfred McCoy
• McCoy graduated from the Kent School in 1964. He earned
his BA from Columbia College, and his PhD in Southeast
Asian history from Yale University in 1977.
• focused on two topics — Philippine political history and global
opium trafficking.
• In 2001, the Association for Asian Studies awarded him the
Goodman Prize for a “deep and enduring impact on Philippine
historical studies.”
• Books: Philippine Social History, Policing America’s Empire (2009),
Closer than Brothers (1999), Torture and Impunity (2012) etc.
About the book
• Winner of the Philippine National Book Award
• reveals how the power of the country's family-based oligarchy both
derives from and contributes to a weak Philippine state.
• “Political dynasty” in the Philippines.
• Hagiography
• Master of his soul: The Life of Norberto Romualdez
• Jose Yulo: Selfless Statesman
• The book has 9 Chapters: An introduction by the editor and the 8
essays on the most influential families in the Philippines.
• Gives the nature of a country susceptible to political dynasty
• Weak State
• Rent seeking oligarchs
• Gives us an idea on how these families rise into power and how
they sustain their power.
• Thus, these families shaped Philippine History
• Post war, the Philippine Government lost control over the country
side to regional elites that later become warlords.
• Private Army
• Little separation on enterprise and household.
• 3 g’s- guns, goons and gold
• 4 c’s- continuity, criminality, Chinese and celebrity
Families

• De Guzman
• Montano
• Durano
• Dimaporo
• Maguindanaon- Sinsuat, Mastura
• Osmena
• Pardo de Tavera
• Lopez
• The first 5 families used arms to gain control of the region the are
in. They rely on violence to obtain their objective.
• The other 3 used a different strategy like showing the people that
they are deserving of their votes particularly the Osmenas of
Cebu.
Sources

• Some of the writers used interviews among the members of the

political clan.
• Most of them went to the places where the family they cover
resides and observe their day to day activities.
• They also used newspapers
• Majority of the sources used are of foreign works since the book is
the first of its kind.
Relevance to Philippine Historiography

This volume will lead to further work and more detailed case
studies of individual families

The book makes us understand the intricacies of Philippine politics

on why it is as it is today.

The work has shown how weak our central government in the past
and how its being we as a nation are divided not just literally but
also politically.