ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that definitive class relations and organized class conflict, remarkably, are only just consolidating in the Philippines. It considers further the question of verticality diachronically as well as the question of the organization of Philippine political action and examines the subtle workings of intermediation in the de-escalation of violence and in conflict resolution. The chapter proposes some pertinent historical and recent events in the Philippines, to the thesis of the interrelationship of verticality, intermediation, and the reduction of organized conflict. The Philippines has long been a hierarchical society. Specific relations within the entrenched structure of inequality have changed over time yet the hierarchical structure has proven remarkably persistent and resilient overall. Although social conflict and contradictions abound in Philippine society, the expression of violence tends to be highly interpersonal rather than inter-categorical. Historically, violence was embedded in the practices of inter-locality raiding and headhunting which were rampant in the pre-Hispanic Philippines.
