Civil Society

CIVIL SOCIETY
Civil society is a meeting of individuals who wish

to achieve, both positive and negative goals It is a
group that people use to push for changes in the
society, wherein changes could be achieved through
peaceful or violent means.
 Civil society has two types: civil society institutions and civil society
organizations. Civil society institutions are those institutions of society
whose purpose is to promote democracy, the rule of law, transparency and
accountability. These can include the media and the universities, and the
task of civic-minded citizens is to make sure that they do not forget their
purpose or get diverted from it. Civil society organizations, on the other
hand, can be subdivided into associations and foundations these are groups
in which citizens get together to advance their interests. It is hoped that such
groups will support democracy and good governance. There is a chance,
however, that a group could be extremist and anti-democratic.
In the Philippines, civil society organizations are common;
these are NGOs (Non-Government Organizations) and POs
(People’s Organizations). POs are composed of
disadvantaged individuals whose main goal is to promote
their members’ material and social well-being (Asian
Development Bank (ADB) Civil Society Briefs, n.d.). The
visible and active POs in the Philippines are sectoral groups
such as trade unions/labour organizations, peasant
organizations, transport groups, urban poor associations, and
women’s groups.
The NGOs mediate between the government and the POs. NGOs
work is to promote the lot of the disadvantaged individuals by
asking funding from the government, establishing linkages, and
undertaking advocacy. According to ADBs’ Civil Society Briefs
(n.d.), Filipino civil societies are unique because they usually
undertake political activism, thus, they play an important role in
achieving Filipino independence from the Spanish and the
Americans, and in ending the Marcos regime.
In the Philippines, civil society became predominant after the
1986 People Power Revolution. The 1987 Constitution supports
civil society organizations, particularly in Article II Section 23
of the Constitution which states that “the state shall encourage
non-governmental, community-based, or sector organizations
that promote the welfare of the nation” and article XIII Section
16 that indicates “the right of the people and their organizations
to effective and reasonable participation at all levels of social,
political and economic decision-making shall not be abridged.
The state shall, by law, facilitate the
establishment of adequate consultation
mechanisms.” Furthermore, the 1987
Constitution supports the existence of NGOs
and POs through the following articles:
Constitution Article I, Section 23:
“The state shall encourage nongovernmental,

community-based, or sectoral organizations that
promote the welfare of the nation.”
Constitution Article XIII, Section 15:
“The state shall respect the role of independent

people’s organizations to enable the people to pursue
and protect, within the democratic framework, their
legitimate and collective interests and aspirations
through peaceful and lawful means.”
Constitution Article XIII, Section 16:
“The right of the people and their organizations to

effective and reasonable participation at all levels of
social, political and economic decision-making shall
not be abridged. The state shall, by law, facilitate the
establishment of adequate consultation mechanisms.”
The Role of Civil Society
Organizations (CSO)
1. Initiate reforms in the society.
 The following reforms are initiated by CSOs along with the

government: Reproductive Health Law, the Law on Violence Against
Women and Children, the Magna Carta on Women, the Fisheries
Code, the Urban Development and Housing Act, the Renewable
Energy Act, the Juvenile Justice Law, the Overseas Absentee Voting
Act, the Anti-Torture Act, the Philippine Cooperative Code, and the
Magna Carta for Disabled Persons.
2. Find source of funds.
CSOs generally receive funds from corporations

(inside and outside of the Philippines) which aim to
support poverty alleviation activities in the country.
Government also provides funding to CSOs but CSOs
limit such instance in order not to be linked with
politicians.
3. Implement social public policies.
After finding funds, CSOs implement several

activities to promote poverty alleviation
programs by providing social services in the
local level.
4. Watchdog.
 CSOs make sure that government policies will always be directed to

help the underprivileged sector in the society. If government decisions
contradict its nature, CSOs initiate a forum to inform people or
conduct a demonstration if the government is too stubborn to listen.
 CSOs are not required to be registered, but only registered CSO can
“benefit from a legal identity that permits them to open a bank
account, sue and be sued, etc. Further, registration is officially
required to accept donations or to Participate in government projects'
(EU Country Roadmap for Engagement with CSOs, 2014).
The Media and CSO
 The media and CSO play key roles in the history of the Philippines During the
1986 People Power Revolution, they helped in mobilizing the people to march to
FDSA and eventually end the Martial Law, Moreover, media CSOs or media
development organizations are created to pursue credible stories without regard of
lost profits (EU Country Roadmap for Engagement with CSOs,
2014)..Furthermore, CSOs use the broadcast media to broadcast this message to a
much wider audience such as calls for the public to mobilize for social change,
transparency, anti-corruption efforts.
Social Movement
 Social Movements are group of people who have the same ideology
with the aim to achieve personal, social, economic and religious goals.
Social movements vary in terms of their aims, some are revolutionary
and some are postulating reforms, and some are conservative in
advancing changes in the society. In terms of policy, some social
movements go international while some remain local. Social
movements do not just exist overnight, they go through four stages:
(1) Emergence (2) Coalescence (3) Bureaucratization and (4) Decline.
Emergence
 Emergence or the “social ferment” stage (Blumer, 1969; De la Porta &

Diani, 2006) is primarily described as the existence of discontent. The
people may be unhappy of the policies of the government or dissatisfied
with some government activities, that they feel the government fall short
in addressing their needs. People may react by telling their colleagues or
posting it on Facebook and eventually a lot of people will make a
comment about it which will make it collective.
Coalescence
At this stage, the discontents of the people are known. It is at

this stage that mass demonstrations emerge. The movement
becomes organized and more focused. According to Hopper
(1950) “this is the stage when individuals Participating in the
mass behavior of the preceding stage become aware of each
Other.” And at this stage, “leaders emerge and strategies for
success are worked out” (Christiansen, 2009).
Bureaucratization
At this stage, social movements succeed in raising awareness to the people.
It is at this stage that the social movement already-has the people to run the
day ta day activities to sustain the activities of the group and achieve its
goals. These people are trained and skilled to make sure that ends are met.
It is also at this stage that social movements “may have more regular
access to political elites (Christiansen, 2009).” Many social movements
fail to bureaucratize because they cannot balance the emotional excitement
and demands for continued mobilization and because of this, the paid staff
can fill in when hi enthusiastic volunteers are not readily available
(Hopper, 1950; Macionis, 72001; Christiansen, 2009).
DECLINE
 This stage does not necessarily mean the end of the social movement.
According to Miller (1999) social movements decline in four ways:
a)Repression - legitimate actions of the government to control or destroy
the movement; b) Co-optation — once movement leaders are part of the
organization they are supposed to change the organization from the inside
but instead the leaders were change following the organizations values
and not of the movements values, c) Success - the movement becomes
successful in achieving their goal, d) Failure — “organization is not able
to handle the rapid expansion that occurred because of their success and
due to organizational strain (Christiansen, 2009).”
Role in the Society
 Social movements play an important role in the ending of authoritarian regimes in

Asia, Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Central Asia (Teorell, 2010;
Schock, 2005). Social movements can act as maintainers and as challengers of
democracy (Ibarra, 2003; Phatharathananunth, 2011). When the former President
Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law, businessmen, politicians, academicians,
journalist and others were arrested and these incidents drew attention to the
National Democratic Front (NDF). The opposition of the people against Marcos
grew stronger after the assassination of Benigno Aquino in 1983. And because of
this, the people marched to EDSA which was known as the People Power
Revolution that toppled down the Marcos regime.
Role in the Society
 Military leaders took part in bringing down the Marcos regime, where scholars believe is a
moderate social movement. And during the time of former President Aquino, she set up the
Presidential Social Fund to finance the NGO. Moreover, during the presidency of Aquino,
Estrada, and Arroyo, adopted a policy of recruiting individuals from the social movement to
Cabinet positions and other departments in the government. This action led to the existence
of moderate social movements, wherein their aim has stream lined to a not total
transformation in the society. This was because social movements asked funding and others
to the government, thus they need to cooperate with the state rather than oppose it (Reid,
2008) PopDem (Movement for Popular Democracy}, CODE NGO and AKBAYAN are
some of those social movements that crossed Over to the government.

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CIVIL SOCIETY

Civil society is a meeting of individuals who wish

“The state shall encourage nongovernmental,

“The state shall respect the role of independent

“The right of the people and their organizations to

 The following reforms are initiated by CSOs along with the

CSOs generally receive funds from corporations

After finding funds, CSOs implement several

 CSOs make sure that government policies will always be directed to

 Emergence or the “social ferment” stage (Blumer, 1969; De la Porta &

At this stage, the discontents of the people are known. It is at

 Social movements play an important role in the ending of authoritarian regimes in

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