ABSTRACT
Philippine democracy experiences a bumpy road for consolidation. Careful observers have recognized pockets of efficacy sustained by professionals with a middle-class background, both in government and civil society, which do not necessarily reflect the narrow interests of the middle class. Assuming the limitation of the class analysis, we study contested democracy shaped by the political coalitions composed of politicians, bureaucrats, professionals and activists. The chapter also argues that we cannot properly capture the dynamics of Philippine democracy as long as we only focus on the politics shaped by the President. Despite governmental changes and subsequent deterioration of human rights conditions, for instance, there is a continuity of socio-economic policy from the Benigno Aquino administration to the Rodrigo Duterte administration.
