Saint Louis University

School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts

Department of Political and Social Sciences

Reinterpreting the Machiavellian Thought in

Deciphering the Geopolitical Strategies of 2016
Presidential Candidates

Submitted by:
I.D. Number

STUDENTS NAME

Submitted to:
Dr. Shivanee A. Dolo
Faculty-in-charge; Political Science 7A
9:30-10:30 MWF

I.) THE 2016 NATIONAL ELECTION OVERVIEW

The people of the Republic of the Philippines were actively participated in 2016 National
Elections held on May 09. According to the COMELEC Law Director Department Dir. Maria Norina
Tangaro-Casingal, this recently concluded elections had been participated by 115 party-lists
candidates, 50 senatorial candidates, 7 vice-presidential candidates and 5 presidential candidates for
national positions. According to the election turn-out, there were almost 82% of 54, 363, 844
registered voters who voted for this election-the highest voters turnout in Philippine 21 st century
elections. Moreover, Prof. Richard Javad Heydarian of DLSU (2016) argued that the 2016 National
Election Result was the fundamental manifestation that the nation have been suffering to
Huntingtons so-called strongman syndrome in which a belief that a leader must be a very strong

man to save the nation. The concept of having a strong man in Philippine governance is not a new
phenomenon since the country has been criticized by several political analysts as oligarchic
government disguised in constitutional democracy. Thus, a strong man though brutish or egoistic
should prevail in order to refocus the national goals and to ensure the provision of basic welfare
services needed by the people adhering to the sentiments of status quo.
By formulating a paradigm for the 2016 Election Outcomes, it is highly justifiable to utilize the
Machiavellian principles for critically evaluating the attributes of the candidates and their number of
voters garnered. In this case, the article would be concentrating on the presidential candidates and
their geopolitical strategies in winning the votes of each region in the country.
II.) DISCUSSION
A.) The Philippine Regional Division
Consisting of more than 7500 islands (as updated by the Jose Cabanuyan, Jr.of National
Mapping Resources Information under DENR due to more than 400 newly-discovered islands in the
Mindanao Region in 2015), the Philippine archipelago has 18 regions including the newlyproclaimed Negros region through Executive Order 183 series of 2015. Confined in this situation, it
is admitted that there are various regional traits observed in each region. For instance, Zaide and
Zaide state that the Ilocanos from Ilocos region are the most adventurous, frugal and hardworking
among all Filipinos whereas the Tagalogs who are inhabiting in Manila and nearby provinces have
superiority complex to other Filipinos. Next, the Bicolanos are said to be religious, mild-tempered,
musical people but show stoicism in life. The Bisayans are extravagant, carefree and jolly people
since they love luxurious clothes and grand socialization events. Last, the Muslims from the
Mindanao region are said to be courageous, iconoclast and very firm because of their religion.
With these regional differences of the Filipino people, the candidates must exhibit effective
geopolitical strategies to create a strong support system. According to Machiavellian thought, The
Prince provides some substantial suggestion as to the methods of the leader in conquering the
different types of principalities.
The following table provides a thematic analysis about the Machiavellian types of principality
(focusing on New Principalities acquired through Fortune and Virtu) and the corresponding actions
that a leader must exhibit.

Table 1: Brief Thematic Analysis of the Machiavellian Types of Principality and the
Corresponding Actions of a Leader
Types of Principalities
Actions Performed by a Leader
1.) Principalities which lived under -The Leader must destroy the civil and political culture to
their own laws
impose a new culture and the leader must live in the area to
have first-hand knowledge of the subjects and the condition
therein
2.) Principalities with the same -The leader must extinguished the lines of princes of the
language and not accustomed to former rulers and maintain the pre-existent condition like
freedom
avoiding the drastic change of laws for easy transition
3.) Principalities With Different -The Leader must reside in the area so that the citizens would
Language
have easy access to the leader, send colonies that could
shackle the state and take the role as the head and protector of
the weak neighbors and to ensure that no foreigner as

powerful as he can enter the area

4.) Principalities that acquired
with the arms and fortunes
of others
(Colonizing states)
5.) Civil Principalities when the
private citizen becomes a prince not
through prefidy or intolerable
violence but thriugh the aid of his
fellow citizens
6.) Ecclesiastical Principalities

-The leader must gain alliance of all noblemen and acquire

enough power before the death of ones benefactor
-The leader must be on guard, seek to win the good will of the
people, and create situations where the people will be
dependent on the prince
-The leader must only adhere to the traditions and old beliefs
since this principality is sustained by the ancient laws and
rooted in religion

By providing table 1, the first aim of the article is to classify the Philippines according to
Machiavellian types of principalities so that the leader could be now evaluated based on their
strategies done in the last elections.
Adopting the criteria given, it can be inferred that Philippines is a type of principality that fulfilled
that characteristics of the 3rd and 5th classification; however, special consideration is observed for the
6th classification as it considered in the Philippine setting. The characteristics of the 3 rd type of
principality (Principalities with different language) is fulfilled by the Philippine nation because it
accommodates various ethno-linguistic groups such as the Ilocanos, Tagalogs, Cordillerans,
Kapampangans, Cebuanos, Bicolanos, etc. which also have distinct languages. Second, the
Philippines also fulfilled the attributes of a civil principality because of Philippines democratic form
of government in which regular elections are observed upon the mandate of the Constitution since
the legitimacy of the ruler lies on the people and lastly, Philippines is quite adhering to the
characteristic of a ecclesiastical principalities for three fundamental reasons: 1.) though the
Philippines has no state religion, it is evident that Philippines is a Christian-dominated country such
that the Church can become a spiritual-political institution in intervening the state affair eventhough
the Constitution instigate the secularization of church and state; 2.) some customs in the Philippines
are heavily-rooted on religious beliefs that affect our personal orientations and 3.) religious leaders
such as in Mindanao area can be also a political leader that could manipulate or if not, reinforce the
laws required by their religion.
B.) The Presidential Candidates
The goal of this section is to provide the brief characterization of the 2016 Presidential
candidates to link with the Machiavellian characteristics of the Philippines. The aim of this section is
to provide a critical analysis among the five candidates and not necessarily justified the victory of the
current 2016 President Rodrigo Roa Duterte who obtained 16, 601, 997 votes. Moreover, this portion
of the article consider the primary attributes of the leader provided by Niccolo Machiavelli in his
book The Prince in analyzing the political behavior of the five candidates.
Table 2: Characterization of the 2016 Presidential Candidates Based on Machiavellian Thought

Attributes

The 2016 Presidential Candidates

Scale: Fulfilled
Somewhat Fulfilled
Not Fulfilled
Miriam
Rodrigo Roa Jejomar
Manuel
Defensor
Duterte
Binay
Roxas III

Grace
Poe
Llamanzares

Santiago
1.) The leader must Fulfilled
know how and
when to use proper
cruelty.
2.)
The
leader Somewhat
should learn to be Fulfilled
other than good
making his capacity
or refraining from it
according to need
3.) The leader must Fulfilled
be prudent to avoid
a reputation of
vices that will ruin
him and his state.
4.)
The
leader Fulfilled
demonstrate
liberality to all
whom he does not
tax (masses) but
demonstrate
miserliness toward
all
those
from
whom he withholds
largess (few other
elites)
5.) The leader must Fulfilled
always strive to
retain
an
appearance
of
conventional
morality for it is
essential that the
ruler avoid being
despised or hated
6.) The leader must Somewhat
adopt the method of Fulfilled
the fox (use of
fraud
or
decisiveness) and
the lion (use of
force).
7.) The leader must Fulfilled
gain esteem by
acting as a true ally
or true enemy that
is by declaring
himself openly for

Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

Not Fulfilled

Fulfilled

Somewhat Somewhat
Fulfilled
Fulfilled

Somewhat
Fulfilled

or against one of
the two conflicting
parties and never
maintain neutrality.
Analysis:
1.) The leader must know how and when to use proper cruelty.
As analyzed, this characteristic was fulfilled by three candidates namely Miriam Defensor
Santiago, and Rodrigo Duterte ; however, this was somewhat fulfilled by presidential candidates Mar
Roxas, Jejomar Binay and Grace Poe.
Candidates Rodrigo Duterte and Miriam Defensor-Santiago showed aggression and firmness in
character during the campaign period. In fact, these two candidates exhibit too much hatred on
corruption and drugs most especially Rodrigo Duterte. His speeches manifested his aggression and
strictness as a future leader of the country but the people are really mesmerized with this behavior
indicating that proper cruelty was applied. For Miriam Santiago, her political boldness contributed to
her popularity as presidential candidate especially to the youth.
On the other mild, the mild personality of Grace Poe, Jejomar Binay and Mar Roxas made them
not to fully fulfilled this criteria.
2.) The leader should learn to be other than good making his capacity or refraining from it
according to need.
Among the candidates, it was undoubtedly that Duterte and Binay fulfilled this character
because of their manipulative capacity as observe in their campaign period because both of them can
act as manipulative beings in times of rigid situation such as the corruption issue of Jejomar Binay
and human right violation issues of Rodrigo Duterte to make themselves still pleasant to the general
public. Moreover, it can be inferred that mastering this characteristic will create a bandwagon
mentality to the public that transform now a leader to be good even if he/she is showing malevolent
acts.
In contrary, the candidates Defensor-Santiago, Poe and Roxas though appeared to have
exemplar characteristic in public during debates and provincial campaigns, have insufficient impact
to the public since they portrayed themselves as good and infallible political leaders of the country
that they are too good to be a leader and not too bad to be an ordinary people like Duterte.
3.) The leader must be prudent to avoid a reputation of vices that will ruin him and his
state.
This criterion was fulfilled by Duterte, Defensor and Poe for exhibiting prudence and sincerity
to the public during the campaign period. However, this criterion is slightly fulfilled by candidates
Roxas and Binay since these candidates were became controversial as far as corruption issue and
Yolanda rescue are concern.
4.) The leader demonstrate liberality to all whom he does not tax (masses) but demonstrate
miserliness toward all those from whom he withholds largess (few other elites).
All presidential candidates except Poe and Roxas fulfilled these criterion. Candidates DefensorSantiago and Duterte really manifested an non-elitist view of politics. However, for Binay, though he
was accused as an elitist, he bandwagoned the idea that he came from a poor family and this story
made him closer to poor masses.
On contrary, though Poe and Roxas platforms are also centered on the poor, they failed to
execute liberality to the mass because their personalities were surrounded by elite such as the
Aranetas for Roxas (propagation of business interests of the Aranetas) and San Miguel Corporation
(concerning the Coco Levy issue) for Grace Poe.

5.) The leader must always strive to retain an appearance of conventional morality for it is
essential that the ruler avoid being despised or hated.
All of the candidates except Duterte seemed to fulfilled this criterion because they present
themselves are beholder of Christian values such as generosity, care for the poor and obedience to
the Dominant church; hence, they appeared to be conventionally moral.
However, Dutertes image as Church nemesis and womanizer brought him to his unpopularity
especially in the Catholic Church most especially at times that he criticized the papal visit of Pope
Francis in the Philippines. However, as far the Filipino masses are concerned, he tried to portrayed
an image that is not too distant with a common Filipino in which this probably made him to still have
strong grassroot support compared with the other candidates.
6.) The leader must adopt the method of the fox (use of fraud or decisiveness) and the lion
(use of force).
Among the candidates, it is undoubtedly that Jejomar Binay has the capacity to fulfill this
criterion. During the first presidential debate aired in GMA, Binay strongly insisted his decisive style
of leadership in which this kind of leadership can make the Philippines into a better nation by
making unpredictable moves toward its foreign partners and to have a flexible government programs
that would cater the needs of the Filipino people.
7.) The leader must gain esteem by acting as a true ally or true enemy that is by declaring
himself openly for or against one of the two conflicting parties and never maintain
neutrality.
By comparing them, Duterte and Defensor-Santiago truly fulfilled these criterion because of
two reasons: 1.) they have too strong nationalistic sentiments opposing the presence of foreign forces
in the country such as the USA and they criticized that USA is an abusive state that always harass the
country through neo-imperialist strategy and 2.) they have clear stand as to who are the enemies of
the state (the terrorist groups such as the Abu Sayyaf and drug lords and heinous criminals for
Duterte).
However, the remaining candidates such as Poe, Binay and Roxas only advanced their
rehabilitationist policies for the general citizenry of the country; thus, people cannot determine if
the sentiments of these candidates are the same as theirs.
CONCLUSION:
According to the table, both candidates Duterte and Defensor-Santiago are fitted to be called
as the Prince in Machiavellian politics. However, the people have spoken and they have chosen
Duterte as the new president of the republic. The health condition of Miriam Defensor-Santiago was
a crucial factor that probably divert the attention of some Filipino voters to choose Duterte since they
have same political orientation.
Election result showed that Rodrigo Dutetre, Davao Citys tough-talking mayor who has been
likened to Donald Trump in the United States, edged out his closest rival, the seasoned technocrat
Manuel Mar Roxas, by a whopping more than 6 million votes to become the 16th president of the
Republic of the Philippines. Duterte, the first Mindanaoan president-elect in history and a selfdescribed socialist, garnered a large plurality (38.5%) of votes. Manuel Roxas had undeniably
great political machinery the Liberal Party that made him gathered the second highest number of
votes next to Duterte; however, Duterte still won the presidency since he know how to get the
sentiments of the Filipino public by showing cruelty to the enemies of national interests by having a
flabbergasting promise to end crime within 3-6 months and he also showed aggressiveness of a man

in leadership by opposing the failures of the Aquino administration and the futility of Mar Roxas as
former DILG secretary in combating crimes and drugs in the country.
Now, Duterte has to lead the majority of Filipinos behind him by displaying non-mainstream
political pragmatism and moderation, shunning radical moves in both domestic and foreign policy
realms showing firmness, decisiveness and political acumen, which could provoke his legions of
critics, including the outgoing president Benigno Aquino.To effectively govern the country, it is
highly recommended that Dutertes presidency must consider the nature of the Philippines as multicultural state; hence, everyone can be his friends or enemies. With this, he must show decisiveness
and proper manifestation of cruelty most especially to the enemies of the society. As utilizing
Machiavellian politics, Duterte as the Prince should not need to return loyalty with loyalty as in the
case in military (national police) and other government agencies in relation to the elimination of
tremendous presence of narco-politics but he needs to owe his subjects by showing dedication to the
mass and show firm behavior by utilizing his loyal troops. Dutertes image of being feared rather
than being loved can be quite effective in his hegemonic leadership style. However, Duterte must be
advised to be more fraudulent as the fox especially in establishing relationships among other public
officials such as the officials of Liberal party since this political party still dominated the legislative
branch of the government.
Without a doubt, the Philippines has really entered a new period of hope under the so-called new
Prince of the Republic who is expected to show bravery as well as nobility in governance!
References
Bennett, Jonathan (2010). Niccolo Machiavelli: The Prince. Portable Display File
Curtis, Michael. (2008). The Great Political Theories. vol 1. First Harper Perennial Modern
Classics. New York City
Heydarian, Richard. (2016). Philippines Election: Why Fatigued Voters Yearn for Strong
Man Leader. Retrieved on November 27, 2016 from www.cnn.com.ph
Official Gazette. (2016). Executive Order No. 183 series 2015. Retrieved on November 27,
2016 from www.gov.ph
Rappler Group (2016). Meet The Presidential Candidates. Retrieved from www.rappler.com
Villa, Jet . (2016). COMELEC Releases Official List of Candidates. Retrieved November 26,
2016 from www.interaksyon.com/article/124106/comelec-releases-official-list-of-candidates
Zaide, Gregorio & Zaide, Sonia (2008). Philippine History and Government. 6th Edition. Rex
Publishing, Quezon City

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