[Corruption in the Philippines] A Theological Understanding of Power for Poverty Alleviation in the Philippines #3/82

Delimitations

First, this study limits the scope of poverty to a sense of powerlessness in the perspectives of development studies. In development studies, scholars and practitioners have defined poverty in many different ways such as poverty as deficit, poverty as entanglement (Robert Chambers), poverty as lack of access to social power (John Friedmann), poverty as diminished personal and relational well-being (Isaac Prilleltensky), poverty as disempowering system (Jayakumar Christian), and poverty as a lack of freedom to grow (Ravi Jayakaran).12The major focus of this study in understanding poverty is on a sense of powerlessness of everyday people in the Philippines.

Second, this study seeks a holistic understanding of power as a means of transformational development in order to overcome a sense of powerlessness of everyday people in the Philippines. There are several different understandings of the causes of poverty: physical, social, mental, and spiritual. In traditional development studies, the spiritual area of poverty has been neglected. The nature of poverty, however, is fundamentally relational, and the cause of poverty is fundamentally spiritual. For enhancing a holistic understanding of poverty, this study explores structural evil and social imaginary that cause and perpetuate a sense of powerlessness. For transforming the sense of powerlessness of everyday people, a theology of power is presented in as a reference to the redeemed power.

Third, the research objects in this study are confined solely to US-based Filipino Protestants; neither Filipino Protestants in the Philippines nor Filipino Catholics in the United States are included. This study aims to examine and discover the missional agency of Filipino American Protestants for the transformation of the Philippines. In this process, the perspectives of Filipino American Protestants on power structures and social imaginary in the Philippines were explored. The group included those who were born, raised and educated in the Philippines, immigrated to the United States, and had lived in the States for more than five years. This number is not an absolute criterion, but a potentially good duration for the immigrants to be aware of socio-political-economic structures of the United States and be able to compare the differences and similarities of socio-political-economic power structures between the Philippines and the USA.

Fourth, the participants in the ethnographic research should be fluent in speaking both English and Tagalog. This bilingual capability is the major condition for the cultural brokers and cultural changers in two different cultures (see the case of the ladinos discussed in the later chapters).

Fifth, research focused on two different Filipino American Protestant Churches in Texas, the United States: one in Dallas area and the other in Houston. These churches were randomly selected for this research and the names cannot be mentioned to keep confidentiality of the data collected. They belong to different denominations, have different leadership styles in terms of governing system, and have different characteristics of Filipino communities. These differences with many other similarities made the research more reliable and complementary. Moreover, Texas has been one of the most preferable destinations for Filipinos to immigrate.13

Definition of Key Terms

Filipino American Immigrants

Since this study seeks to empower Filipino American Protestants to be agents for the transformation of the Philippines, I needed to know first how they came to the United States and who they are. The history of Filipino immigration to the United States has five different phases: during the Spanish rule, during American colonization, Post-Independence, Post-Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965,14and 2001to the Present. The colonial experience of the Philippines with the United States had a profound impact on Philippine migration. The first significant migration of Filipinos to the States began from the second phase, that is, during American colonization. In this phase, the first Filipino immigrants were Pensionados,15the children of rich influential Filipinos, sent to study and work for the U.S. Armed Forces during World War I and II, and Manongsand Sakadas,16Filipino contract laborers who worked as farmers in the sugar plantations of Hawaii, Washington and California, and as canners in Alaska.17This pattern of Filipino immigration to the States continued until the third phase of Post-Independence from 1946to 1965. The fourth phase commenced when the 1965Immigration Act was passed, which officially committed the United States to accepting immigrants of all nationalities on a roughly equal basis. This increased Filipino immigration to the United States. Thereafter, the profile of Filipino immigrants to the States began to tremendously change with the influx of Filipino immigrant professionals such as nurses, medical doctors, medical technologists, and teachers.