Domination in Negros Occidental: variants on a ruling oligarchy

Since the beginnings of the hacienda economy about 150 years ago the local oligarchs in Negros Occidental, a province of the Philippines, have established themselves not only as supreme economic powerholders, but also as politically, socially and culturally dominant force. Even though the mainstay of their grip on power is economic control, rule by law, and political office they regularly also take recourse to intimidation and violence. The dominant position of oligarchy in local and national politics dooms to failure any strategy that aims at their political disempowerment. Efforts at reform should be scaled down to taming the oligarchs by bringing them under the rule of law and thereby replacing the current practice of rule by law. Given the deeply grounded understanding and social practice that effectively puts the elite above the law, this already is a Herculean task.