The Political Machine

The Political MachineUnlike the middle class and urban capitalists, who are concerned about taxes, efficiency in governance, and development of the city economy, the urban poor, who are the major voters in the city, tend to be more interested in the direct benefits from the city government.To accomplish this, the political machine is used to systemize the flow of benefits.As discussed in the previous chapter, the state resources are under the mayor's discretion.The political machine enables the mayor to gain the support and loyalty of the poor using the state resources under his control.This chapter focuses on operation of the political machine under Jesse M. Robredo. 1 Robredo has organized the urban poor residents by social sectors.This helps him to maintain effective unitary control and distribution over resources.He has also set up offices in the city government to deal with these sector organizations, and these offices have been used to incorporate the organizations into the city government.This incorporation is a fundamental piece of Robredo's political machine.The mayor spends a lot of time and energy in organizing.Everyday after office hours he visits the barangays in the city to keep up his contacts with grassroots leaders and residents.Having strong political machine is another means for holding onto power, along with the mayor's award-winning governance of the city which was examined in the previous chapter.