Wandering Sovereignties: An Esoteric Critique of Politics in the Philippines
On Philippine politics, now grounded in authoritative scholarship by Benedict Anderson, Alfred McCoy, and Walden Bello. It blends esoteric metaphor (wandering, labyrinths, ritual) with rigorous political analysis.
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Wandering Sovereignties: An Esoteric Critique of Politics in the Philippines
Introduction: The Broken Link as Allegory
The inaccessible link—its message declaring “Not all who wander are lost, but this page is”—becomes an allegory for Philippine politics. The nation itself often appears as a wandering polity: searching for coherence, oscillating between colonial inheritances and indigenous aspirations, between populist spectacle and technocratic reform. Yet, like the broken page, the Philippine body politic is simultaneously lost and not lost—its wandering is both a symptom of disorientation and a mode of survival. This essay explores Philippine politics through this esoteric metaphor, situating wandering as a hermeneutic lens for understanding sovereignty, democracy, and cultural agency.
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I. Historical Wandering: Colonial Legacies and Postcolonial Displacements
- Spanish Colonialism (1521–1898): The Philippines was integrated into a global empire, its politics mediated by friars, encomenderos, and the Crown. Wandering here meant the displacement of indigenous polities into a Catholic, Hispanic order.
- American Occupation (1898–1946): The promise of democracy was introduced, but tethered to tutelage. Filipinos wandered between self-rule and dependency, rehearsing sovereignty under the gaze of empire.
- Post-Independence (1946 onwards): The Republic wandered through elite democracy, martial law, and post-EDSA populism. Each phase promised stability yet reproduced cycles of disorientation.
Benedict Anderson’s notion of cacique democracy captures this wandering trajectory: a democracy dominated by landed elites, where sovereignty is perpetually deferred .
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II. Democracy as Ritual Performance
Philippine democracy is often criticized as “cacique democracy,” dominated by dynasties and patronage. Yet, from an esoteric lens, elections are ritual performances—moments where collective wandering crystallizes into symbolic order.
- Campaigns as Spectacle: Political rallies resemble fiestas, with music, dance, and spectacle.
- Voting as Pilgrimage: The act of voting is akin to pilgrimage—citizens journey to precincts, inscribe their will, and return to everyday precarity.
- Dynasties as Archetypes: Political families function as archetypal figures—embodying continuity amidst disorientation.
Alfred McCoy’s An Anarchy of Families demonstrates how dynasties anchor this ritual democracy, sustaining elite dominance across generations .
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III. Populism and the Esoteric Figure of the Leader
Populist leaders—from Ferdinand Marcos to Rodrigo Duterte—embody the esoteric archetype of the wandering prophet-king.
- Marcos (1965–1986): His “New Society” sought to anchor the nation, yet produced authoritarian wandering—martial law as labyrinth.
- Duterte (2016–2022): His rhetoric of violence and order resonated with a populace weary of wandering through corruption and crime. Yet his governance reproduced disorientation, as institutions bent to strongman charisma.
- Esoteric Reading: Populism thrives because the leader becomes a symbolic compass. Citizens project their wandering anxieties onto a figure who promises orientation, even if the path leads deeper into labyrinths.
Walden Bello’s critiques of authoritarian populism highlight how such figures exploit disorientation, offering false clarity while deepening systemic crises .
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IV. Wandering Institutions: Bureaucracy, Law, and Policy
Institutions in the Philippines often appear fragmented, contradictory, and prone to capture.
- Bureaucracy: Agencies overlap, mandates conflict, and corruption erodes coherence.
- Law: Legal frameworks oscillate between colonial inheritances and local adaptations.
- Policy: Development plans shift with administrations, producing discontinuity.
Esoterically, institutions are labyrinths. Citizens wander through bureaucratic corridors, seeking justice or services, often lost in procedural opacity.
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V. Cultural Politics: Wandering Identities
Philippine politics is inseparable from cultural identity.
- Language Politics: The tension between Tagalog-based Filipino and regional languages reflects wandering identities—between unity and diversity.
- Religion: Catholicism, Islam, and indigenous spirituality coexist, producing wandering faiths that shape political mobilization.
- Diaspora: Overseas Filipino Workers embody wandering citizenship—politically tied to the homeland yet materially dispersed across the globe.
Here, wandering is not failure but resilience. Cultural politics thrives in multiplicity, resisting singular orientation.
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VI. Esoteric Framework: Wandering as Cosmology
Drawing from esoteric traditions, wandering can be read as:
- Hermetic Journey: Politics as alchemy—transforming base disorientation into collective gold.
- Mystical Pilgrimage: Sovereignty as pilgrimage—never fully attained, always sought.
- Labyrinthine Order: Institutions as labyrinths—where wandering is the mode of navigation, not error.
Thus, Philippine politics is not broken but esoteric: its wandering is cosmological, a mode of being.
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VII. Contemporary Challenges: Wandering in the 21st Century
- Digital Politics: Social media amplifies wandering—citizens lost in misinformation yet connected through networks.
- Climate Crisis: Environmental precarity forces wandering communities—displaced by typhoons, searching for state support.
- Globalization: The Philippines wanders through global circuits—outsourcing, migration, and cultural flows.
- Authoritarian Resurgence: The temptation of strongman rule persists, offering false orientation amidst wandering crises.
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VIII. Toward an Esoteric Politics of Wandering
What would it mean to embrace wandering as political philosophy?
- Acceptance of Multiplicity: Recognizing that disorientation is constitutive, not pathological.
- Ethical Collaboration: Wandering together—politics as collective search, not imposed direction.
- Processual Transparency: Institutions as open labyrinths—where wandering is visible, accountable, and participatory.
- Cultural Resonance: Politics grounded in ritual, performance, and multiplicity—embracing wandering identities.
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Conclusion: The Page is Lost, but the Nation Wanders
The broken link reminds us: “Not all who wander are lost.” Philippine politics, though disoriented, is not lost—it wanders through colonial legacies, populist spectacles, institutional labyrinths, and cultural multiplicities. Esoterically, wandering is the nation’s mode of survival, its cosmology of sovereignty. To critique Philippine politics is not to lament its wandering but to recognize wandering as its truth: a perpetual search for orientation, a ritual of resilience, a cosmological journey.
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Key Sources: Benedict Anderson (Cacique Democracy), Alfred McCoy (An Anarchy of Families), Walden Bello (critical essays on authoritarian populism).
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As a 2003 Starr Foundation Grantee, Roldan participated in a transformative ten-month fellowship in the United States. This opportunity allowed him to observe contemporary art movements, engage with an international community of artists and curators, and develop a new body of work that bridges local and global perspectives.
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Amiel Gerald A. Roldan™ curatorial writing practice exemplifies this path: transforming grief into infrastructure, evidence into agency, and memory into resistance. As the Philippines enters a new economic decade, such work is not peripheral—it is foundational.
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A multidisciplinary Filipino artist, poet, researcher, and cultural worker whose practice spans painting, printmaking, photography, installation, and writing. He is deeply rooted in cultural memory, postcolonial critique, and in bridging creative practice with scholarly infrastructure—building counter-archives, annotating speculative poetry like Southeast Asian manuscripts, and fostering regional solidarity through ethical art collaboration.
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