Hanna Pinky Villanueva and Naessah Verano:

Ang Pagkagapos ng Sistemang Akademya sa Pagtuturo at Pag-aaral ng Agham Pampulitika

Ang pangongolonya ng mga bansang Kanluranin sa ibang bansa partikular na yaong mga bansang sinasabing bahagi ng ‘Third World” ay malaki ang papel na ginampanan sa kasaysayan ng buong mundo. Malaki ang naging epekto nito sa sa mga nakolonyang bansa. Sinasabi umanong malaki ang naitulong ng mga nangolonyang bansa sa mga nasakop nitong paganismo at barbarikong mga bansa: mula sa pamamahala, kalakalan at higit sa lahat sa edukasyon na di umano ay pinakamaigting na naimpluwensyahan. Ngunit,sinikap ng mga nakolonyang bansa na mabawi ang kanilang mga kalayaan . Ngunit matapos nnilang makamit ang mga ito, ang mga bagay ay hindi na maaaring maging katulad muli ng dati bago pa sila sakupin. Pisikal na malaya ang mga bansang ito ngunit ang kaisipan at mga pagpapahalaga ay patuloy na nakagapos at di makaalpas sa impluwenysa ng mga Kanluranin magpasahanggang ngayon.

>>>>>Hindi maitatatwa ang impluwenysa ng kanluranin sa akademya.kahit na ang mga sinsabing natural sciences ay hindi masasabing puro at obhektibo. Tulad na lamang ng matematika. Hindi lang ang Kanluranin ang may sistema ng numero kungdi bawat kultura at bansa ay may natatanging paraan o sitema ng pagbibilang o numero ngunit ang number system lamang ng Kanluranin ang ating kinikilala at tinatangkilik Ang mga one (1), two (2), centimeter (cm), kilometer (km) at pounds (lbs) ang nagsilbi nating pamantayan ng pagbibilang at ginagamit ng malawakan.Bata pa lang tayo, ito na ang mahigpit na itinuturo at masusing binabantayan ng ating mga magulang. Mukhang payak ang mga numero ngunit kung tutuusin ay malaki ang naidudulot nito sa ating paraan ng pag-iisip at pag-uugali. Halimbawa, kadalasan nating makikita sa mga sanaying aklat ang mga 1 apple + 1 apple= 2 apples. Sa paggamit ng mga salitang mansanas, naituturo na sa atin ang pagtangkilik sa produkto ng mga Kanluraning bansa at pag-iisip na anumang bagay na mula sa kanila ay kanais-nais at nararapat tangkilikin. Bukod pa rito, itinatanim din sa atin ang pagiging rasyunal at mekanistiko kung saan iisa lang ang maaaring pagsagot sa mga ganitong problema.

>>>>>Ang mga libro rin na ginagamit sa eskwelahan ay kadalasang akda ng mga kanluraning iskolar. Sa pag-aaral ng panitikan, ang mga classic works nila Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, at marami pang iba ang siyang madalas na ituro sa atin. Ang kanila ring mga akda ang nagsisilbing standard o panuntunan natin sa ating mga gagawin. Maliban pa rito, naging patakaran na ang paggamit ng salitang Ingles sa maraming paaralan:sa pagsusulat at pananalita. Meron din tayong asignaturang Ingles na sinsabing ‘ang natatanging daan sa ating pag-unlad’. Hindi totoong mababa at makitid ang karunungang makukuha sa Filipino. Pakulo lamang ito ng mga maka-English na naniniwalang hindi tayo uunlad kung hindi tayo marunong mag-English. Ang tunay na karunungan ay yaong lumulutas sa pangangailangan ng tao, yaong nagagamit niya para mabuhay.May sarili na tayong teknolohiya para mabuhay at magsarili. May nalinang na tayong paraan ng agrikultura at mga industriya para masagot ang ating pangangailangang pangkabuhayan.Intelektuwalisado na ang ating wika noon pa man. May mga salita ito na naglalaman ng mga katutubong kaalaman sa pilosopiya, politika at teknolohiya. Totoong may sapat na kakayahan ang mga Pilipino na makipag-ugnayan sa mga dayo ngunit maliwanag pa sa sikat ng araw na hindi natin makakamit ang tunay na sariling kamalayan kung patuloy tayong walang kakayahang makipag-ugnayan sa sarili nating mga kababayan, ang ugnayan sa mamamayang nananawagan ng pagababago.

>>>>>Mapupuna nating karamihan o minsan pa nga ay halos lahat ng ating binabasa ay nakasulat sa salitang Ingles at kalimitang ang mga may-akda nito ay mga white anglo-saxon protestant elite men (WASPEM). Tila magiging elitismo kung ang pag-aaral nito ay malilimita lamang sa sa mga scholars (yaong mga nasa akademya) sapagkat hindi lahat sa ating mga Pilipino ay hilig ang pagbabasa sa salitang Ingles lalo na yung mga scholarly articles.

>>>>>Kadalasan pa sa ating mga aralin ang paggawang halimabawa sa mga first world countries bilang huwaran na dapat nating tularan. Madalas silang ipakita bilang nasa rurok ng pag-unlad. Kung titingnan natin: sino nga ba ang nagtatakda ng panuntunan o standards? Hindi ba’t sila rin? Lumalabas din, gamit ang balangkas ng Kanluraning karunungan, na mali ang mga likas na pagpapahalaga natin na di umano ay hadlang sa ating pag-unlad. BAkit nga ba ganito? Tulad nga ng nabanggit na: mga WASPEM ang nagsulat ng mga inaaral natin kung saan tinitingnan nila ang kanilang mga sarili na higit pa sa atin. Bakit nga ba hindi kasama si Rizal sa poltical theorists na ating pinag-aaralan? Kung tutuusin, siya diumano ang isa sa pinakaunang theorist sa Asya?

>>>>>Isa sa nilalayon naming talakayin sa papel na ito ay ang isyu ng pagtuturo ng agham pampulitika sa sarili ng ating wika: Pilipino. Napuna ni G. Emmanuel Lallana (Salazar: 1991 na halos karamihan sa curriculum vite (CV) sa Departamento ng Agham Pampulitika na bihira at wala halos naglalathala sa wikang Filipino. Ngunit pagdating sa pagsasanay at praktikal na gawain higit na nakararami ang nagsusulat sa wikang Filipino. Ano nga ba ang kahihinatnan kung gagamit tayo ng wikang pambansa sa agham pampulitika? Naniniwala si G. Lallana na mas mapapalawig at mapapaunlad ang Agham Pampulitika sa pagtuturo ng wikang pambansa sapagkat mas mauunawaan ito ng masang Pilipino na kadalasang paksang tinatalakay sa mga aralin sa agham pampulitika. Nagbigay siya ng mga mungkahi kung paano ito magagawang posible. Una, sa tulong ng ibang mga departamento ng kolehiyo, maaariumanong makalikha ng isang ensiklopedia ng agham panlipunan, Bakit isang ensiklopedia? Sapagkat kung gagawa na rin lang ng glosaryo o listahan ng mga kataga, ensiklopedia na lang upang hindi malaki ang guguling halaga. Bakit sa agham panlipunan? Sapagkat kalimitan halos sa mga konseptong ginagamit ay magkakaparehas at magkakatumbas ang kahulugan at makakatulong ito upang mapalapit at mas maunawaan ang mga konseptong artipisyal at abstrakto na pilit na pinapalayo. Pangalawa, sa kanyang iminungkahi ay ang pagkakaroon ng “Reader sa Pulitika” sa Pilipino. May bentahe din umano ang nasabing babasahin sapagkat makukuha mo ang mga eksperto sa iba’t ibang larangan ng buhay sa pulitika. Hindi na ring kailangang gumawa pa ng panibagong pananaliksik sapagkat pagsasalin na lamang ang gagawin ng mga magiging awtor. Nararapat din umanong magkaroon ng pag-aaral sa pilosopiyang pampulitika. At ikaapat, ang pagkakaroon ng journal na kung saan ang lahat ng ilalahatla ay nasa salitang Pilipino.

>>>>>Sabi nga ni Randy David, “walang wikang umuunlad kung hindi ito naisusulat at binabasa. Walang wikang umuunlad kung ito’y hindi sinasanay na maglulan ng mga produkto ng kamalayan at iba’t-ibang kaisipang hango sa maraming kultura. Kailangang makipag-usap ang ating sarili’t-katutubong wika sa mga wika ng ibang bansa, sa halip na isangtabi ito, sa maling pag-aakalang hindi na ito angkop sa bagong panahon. “

Sanggunian:
Salazar, Zeus(ed,) Ang P/Filipino sa Agham Panlipunan at Pilosopiya. Kalikasan Press: Manila. 1991

Glenda Gambito & Precious Iva Joulea L. Maiquilla:

Decolonizing Knowledge, Decolonizing the Social Sciences: Issues, Concerns and Recommendations

For almost four hundred years, the Spaniards, Americans and Japanese colonized the Philippines. It was only in 1946 that the Philippines gained “independence”. But, are we really liberated? Our physical bodies may be free from the rule of the colonizers but our minds are not. Thus we are not truly liberated but experiencing the worst form of colonization, the colonization of the mind. According to Altbach, colonialism does not end with our independence from the colonizers but their influence continues in the sphere of our intellectual life. What they invaded is the minds of the people (1995: 452).

.Because of a very long time of being a colony, our thoughts, ideas, beliefs, attitudes and our culture as a whole have been westernized. One of the reasons for their continued domination is their use of the educational system, particularly the social sciences. Even Mathematics, considered to be universal, was also a form of domination or colonization that they employed as Bishop had said in one of his articles.

.To some extent, values like rationalism, objectism and power and control are connected with Western Mathematics. Rationalism is the use of human reason in order to arrive at a certain decision. Math also exhibits the value of power and control through te use of number and measurement in the different parts of the state like trade and administration. Objectism is also one of the goals of Mathematics wherein the reality is abstracted or decontextualized in order to come up with a generalization (Bishop, 1995: 74-75). The idea of objectism or objectivity is usually contrasted with subjectivity. Searle emphasized that a good deal of our outlook in life depends on our concept of objectivity and the distinction between the objective and the subjective (1995: 7). According to him, two distinctions are crucial in differentiating what is objective and what is subjective: in terms of epistemic sense and ontological sense. In the epistemic sense, objective and subjective are predicates of judgments while in ontological sense, objective and subjective are ascribed modes of existence (Ibid: 8).

.Two contrasting views regarding the colonization of the knowledge can be seen today. The first view, the traditionalists, believes that liberal education should be promoted. Liberal education is the transcendence of a person over his or her origin, gender, race, and ethnicity. They try to make the students rise above the mediocrity, provincialism or other restrictions of whatever environment from which they have come ( Searle, 1995: 231). There is no need for representativeness and everything must be based on merit and intellectual quality. One does not necessarily need to believe in a particular theory or practice to be able to teach it.

.However, the idea of multiculturalism emerges as an opposition to the traditionalist’s view. According to this view, there should be a resistance tot eh perpetuation of Western knowledge. Alatas termed the phenomenon of the control of the colonizers of various disciplines like political sciences in Third world countries as academic imperialism (2006: 600). This is maintained through academic dependency which creates inequality between the Social Sciences of the West and of the Third World. The former imposes their theories and ideas that the latter passively accepts and applies to their country even if it is not suitable or appropriate (David, 1977:96). Third World countries like the Philippines therefore need an academic dependency reversal. In the Social Sciences, the discipline of Political Science may be a good place to start.

.Due to the colonization, several issues have arisen in the situation of Philippine Political Science. One of these is the adoption of the idea of democracy as the form of government in our country. This democracy, which has the presidential system of government, is patterned in the Western model specifically American democracy. As the dominant ideology, it follows that it will penetrate the realm of knowledge taught in the Philippines. Thus, it became the standard in the Academe to use the Western model of democracy.

.Studies on Philippine politics are usually written by Western political scientists like Riedinger, Wurfel and McCoy. Even the assigned readings in political courses are written mostly by the West. Though a lot of political scientists are being produced by Philippine universities, only a few of them gain academic recognition. However, the sad fact is that these political scientists are only recognized if they make researches for other countries or in partnership with a Western author. Focus on doing our own Political Science is not being done.

.Since the knowledge being inculcated in Philippine political science is based on Western models, it only follows that Western ideas are being applied in our government. The Philippine Constitution and the way of governance in the Philippines are transplanted from the United States of America. This shows that we have a strong attachment to our former colonizer and we hold them in the highest regard which created the myth that whatever is best for them would be best for us too. This thinking then led to failure since applying democracy, specifically presidential system of government, is not suited or applicable in our country. A lot of drawbacks can be seen in the Philippine case from the time of our adoption of American democracy. Some of these weaknesses are: 1) political elites continue to dominate Philippine politics, 2) political participation only happens during elections, 3) continued marginalization of the poor, 4) suspicious disappearances of activists in the country and extrajudicial killings, 5) the continuing human rights abuses, and 6) extreme inequalities in wealth and protection between Christians and Muslims ( Riedinger, 1999: 207).

.Due to the weaknesses of applying Western democracy in the Philippines, we therefore need to construct a form of government, which is better suited to our country, and this task should be first done in the academe in order to start remaking the mindset of Filipino political scientists. Remigio Agpalo suggested a pangulo regime wherein it prescribed the value of organic hierarchy. It prescribed that the pain suffered by the humblest member was also suffered by the entire nation. This means that if one part of the country suffers, all the other parts also suffer (1996:200). What Agpalo wants to emphasize is that we should incorporate our own values like “pakikisama” or sharing, loving and caring in our government, which would act as one body. We should abolish or abandon the individualism and impersonalization embodied by Western democracy. In doing so, how political science, whose focus is particularly on the structure of the government, is being taught would be revolutionized. Thus, if a pangulo regime would be established, we would somehow become decolonized in our knowledge. However, in order to do this, certain ways on how to decolonize our knowledge in political science should be developed. These are: 1) making Filipino political scientists get interested in doing research studies in the Philippines which are not patterned after Western models, 2) improvement of tertiary education by the government, and 3) provision of good jobs, in order to stop the brain drain, by the government here in the Philippines which would help in redoing Philippine social sciences. If all of these could possibly be done, development of the Filipino nation in all aspects would be realized.-

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BIBLIOGRAPHY


Agpalo, Remigio E. The Philippines: From Communal to Societal Pangulo Regime. Adventures in Political Sciences. Quezon City: University of the Philippines. 1996.

Alatas, Syed F. Countering Eurocentrism: Asian Discourses in the Social Sciences. London: New Delhi. 2006.

Altbach, Philip G. Education and Neocolonialism. ed. Bill Ashcroft et. al. The Post-colonial Studies Reader. London: Routledge. 1995. p452-456.

Bishop, Alan J. Western Mathematics: The Secret Weapon of Cultural Imperialism. ed. Bill Ashcroft et. al. The Post-colonial Studies Reader. London: Routledge. 1995. p71-76.

David, Randolf S. Ang Pagkagapos ng Agham Panlipunang Pilipino. Ikalawang Pambansang Kumperensiya ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino. Lunsod ng Quezon. 1977

Riedinger, Jeffrey M. Democracy and its Limits: Lessons from Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press. 1999.

Searle, John R. Is There a Crisis in American Higher Education?. ed. Edith Kurzweil and William Philips. Our Country, Our Culture: The Politics of Political Correctness. Boston: Partisan Review Press. 1994. p227-243.

Searle, John R. The Construction of Social Reality. New York: Free Press. 1995

Julie Ann Q. Benamera:

Decolonizing Knowledge, Decolonizing the Social Sciences: Issues, Concerns and Recommendations in the case of the Public Administration in the Phils.

.

I. Introduction

Our conception of knowledge can be mainly based on how we, as observers, perceive it. This is a subjective view of how we see the world not as a “given”, but as something that has come to be agreed upon by convention. Today, this knowledge that makes up our reality determines the purpose of our actions, thus, it becomes the source of meaning that we put into our daily lives.

This paper aims to integrate the concepts, which the authors of the readings want to convey. I will discuss and summarize the ideas of the authors that primarily focused on the (de)colonization of knowledge, particularly in the social sciences. In the second part, I will speak about an issue in the Philippine Public Administration – a topic that falls within the realm of Political Science. I will try to explain how the Philippine bureaucracy has been colonized and is still being colonized up to now. Toward the end of the paper, I am tasked to present a recommendation on how this issue can be solved and what concrete actions we may take to help in the decolonization process in this particular area in the social sciences.

II. Integration of Concepts

The answer to the question of whether a particular knowledge is objective or subjective, I believe, is something that may still be value-laden – meaning, one’s answer is still subjective. Our idea of what passes as knowledge is based on our judgment that that something can be considered as knowledge, which depends on what area or discipline that knowledge belongs and relative to whoever says that it is indeed “knowledge” (Searle, Construction of Social Reality, p. 5).

The acquisition of knowledge in the social sciences constitutes our basic familiarity with “the classics”, which have become our theoretical foundation in our study of the contemporary issues present within each discipline (Searle, Our Country, Our Culture, p. 231). Tradition says that it is important to uplift one’s identity by being liberated from the knowledge that is based from one’s background or origin (ibid.). However, this may seem to contradict the main idea of “liberation”. Once we separate ourselves from our background that identifies us, we move into another’s “identity”, so to say. This can be clearly seen in our educational system. At this point, the colonization process begins. Generally speaking, Western knowledge evidently dominates the educational system. “Western values and views”, as Altbach puts it, are taught in most schools (Altbach, Education and Neocolonialism, p. 453). We have actually become academically dependent on the ideas offered by the West. Not only that. Since we have almost perfected the reshaping of our identity, and we have inculcated in us values from the West, it has become easier for us to relate to them, and even respond to the “demands for [our] expertise in the West” (Alatas, S. F. 2003: p. 605). In our case, this can be seen through the high demand of our professionals to become OFWs. The use of the English language has also become very indispensable. In the case of the Philippines, English is the medium of teaching, and obviously, foreigners from neighbor countries come to the Philippines to study the English language because we, Filipinos, have become very proficient in speaking it. We may also look at the cultural level in terms of “cultural rebirth” that Bishop speaks about (Bishop, 1990: p. 75). It is important to look back to our own culture and to rethink the values that have changed or have been replaced that might have affected our ways of thinking. Having knowledge of the culture is in itself a way to resist the dominant culture that controls all the other cultures. Again, in the case of the Philippines, this cultural or intellectual hegemony is present. The social sciences in the Philippines, I believe, are still dependent on Western ideas and views. The academe replicates Western concepts that lead to the colonization of the mind. We do not come up with our original ideas and viewpoints, but we continue to receive many of these from the outside (David, Ang Pagkagapos ng Agham Palipunang Pilipino, p. 96). Given the idea that generally, knowledge in the social sciences has been colonized, we now move on to one issue in Political Science – public administration.

III. Issue In Political Science: the case of Philippine Public Administration

The bureaucracy has become a key state apparatus that is in charge of the operations within the government. It operates and functions through public administration. Historically, the American colonization has become a great influence in the Philippine public administration. The Americans have introduced to us management and governance theories that we still apply today (Genato Rebullida and Serrano, 2006: p. 219). We have somehow patterned our administrative ways to fit into that of the West. This is the issue at hand: Is there really an existing Philippine Public Administration?

The answer to this question is usually a firm “NO”. However, we must rethink and say that there exists our own public administration. The problem is, it is not purely coming from us. If we talk about plain management, obviously, the ideas come from the West. However, if we consider the underlying factors involved in management, we can see that our culture, environment and society also shape the Philippine public administration. We can say that we have been colonized in terms of bureaucratic structure, functions, operations and management in general. Yet we have our own way of decolonizing the identity of our public administration. Filipino values and belief systems are also incorporated in the present bureaucracy. Our ideas of “pakikisama, utang na loob, and hiya” are seen in the bureaucracy. These are traditional Filipino values that actually lead to the downfall of the whole system. These values may lead to “graft and corruption, nepotism or favoritism, patron-client relations, and conflict between personal interest and public interest.” (ibid., p. 228) Thinking again, if this is how we will decolonize our idea of bureaucracy, this may eventually lead to the failure of our objective. Do we might as well adopt Western values and be colonized once more? My answer is no. The negative consequences of the actions of our bureaucrats and the Filipino society in general are dependent on how we use our knowledge of these cultural values. These values are essential part of our culture and we better use these for our further development. Scientific management theory that comes from the West is not actually necessary because culturally speaking, it does not fit our set of values and norms. It is the ideas coming from the outside that must adjust to the traditions we set, not the other way around.

III. Recommendations

The issue of establishing the identity of the Philippine public administration and its eventual separation from the Western theories and concepts has proven that culture is still an essential part of the development of a country’s bureaucratic system. Filipino values and norms are very strong to the extent these greatly influence even the Western ideas that have been introduced to us by the West. Still, our culture determines our management of our bureaucracy. To conclude, I recommend that the bureaucratic system adopt these Filipino values and use them sensibly for the betterment of the services that our bureaucrats offer us. Moreover, our bureaucrats must apply concepts, ideas and theories based on our culture and to what the society demands. In this way, we may slightly, but significantly “decolonize” the public administration in the Philippines.

References:

Readings

Alatas, Syed Farid (2003). ‘Academic Dependency and the Global Division of Labour in the Social Sciences’.

Altbach, Philip G (1971). ‘Education and Neocolonialism’.

Bishop, Alan J. (1990). ‘Western Mathematics: The Secret Weapon of Cultural Imperialism’ in Race and Class.

David, Randolf S. ‘Ang Pagkagapos ng Agham Panlipunang Pilipino’ sa Ikalawang Pambansang Kuprensya ng sikolohiyang Pilipino.

Searle, John R. ‘Is there a Crisis in American Higher Education?’ in Our Country, Our Culture.

_____________. The Construction of Social Reality.

Book

Genato Rebullida, Ma. Lourdes G., and Serrano Cecilia (2006). ‘Bureaucracy and Public Management in Democracy, Development, and Governance in the Philippines’ in Philippine Politics and Governance: An Introdudtion, ed. Noel M. Morada and Teresa S. Encarnacion Tadem. Diliman, Quezon City: UP Press.

Mark-Anthony C. Tungpalan and Abrillius Raffy C. Laguesma:

Decolonizing Knowledge: The Social Science, Issues, Concerns, and Recommendations.

Westerners have been too influential on almost every field of human knowledge. As Alan J. Bishop critique western mathematics being considered universal and widely accepted by the people from different cultures and perceived to be as a culture-free knowledge. In this assumption, cultures are disregarded for not having the avenues to construct knowledge with regard to mathematics. However, Bishop acknowledges that cultures have the ability to produce their own mathematical system unique from others but is dominated by power knowledge (specifically, mathematics) introduced by the Western dominant thoughts.

Philip G. Altbach added that the Western is too pervasive in influencing other non-western cultures by employing education to penetrate traditional educational system of non-western cultures. Altbach argued that aside from physical colonization there exists mental colonization (colonization of the mind) wherein education is involved.

The article of Syed Farid Alatas strengthens the monopolistic control as well as influence over Third World social sciences. In addition, the dependence of Third World scholars and intellectuals on Western social science is due to the idea that they can not construct original metatheoretical or theoretical analysis thus depending on patterns from researches in the West on research agendas.

Contending debates of the traditionalist and challengers, with regard to crisis in American higher education was laid down by John R. Searle. The basic arguments of the traditionalists are; there are intersubjective standards of rationality; it tries to get rid of the notion of provincialism, the idea that individuals are viewed as a member of the universal human culture, and liberal education should be propagated wherein it criticizes one’s self and one’s community. On the other hand, the challengers argue against the traditionalist that all cultures are not only morally equal but intellectually equal as well. Therefore, they proposed that multiculturalist democracy should be propagated wherein every culture must be represented equally.

As a result of these previous studies on colonialism (specifically colonization of the mind), non-western countries should respond through setting urgent actions to decolonize Western knowledge and values being forcibly impose to them. Decolonization in the social sciences seeks to free us from Western enforced knowledge. On the context of the Philippines, the decolonization process stated through discovering the implications of the colonization of the mind, which is considered as a hidden agenda that penetrates and modifies the indigenous knowledge structures. The Philippine educational system became as a sub-sector and sub structure of the hegemonic global economy wherein the country’s development is widely dependent on hegemonic structures, the Western. Thus, the roles of the Philippine social sciences are the following; first, to open the mind of Filipinos and be critical to foreign (Western) knowledge; second, to offer solutions to social dilemmas.

ISSUE
One emerging issue in the present day condition of the Philippines, is the misused of social research to legitimized the prevailing status quo. Those who hold seats in the government often make use of social researches to preserve the power bestowed upon them. For example, public officials (especially high ranking and high educational attainment) may demand researchers to conduct an assessment of the present condition of the society, where there exists a disturbance and instability in the status quo but through social research conducted by the scholars, the present condition could become the other way around. Politicians being endowed with power could influence and control the researchers to bring out a desirable outcome masking the existent status quo.

Most, if not, some high ranking officials in the Philippine government, for example, the current President of the Philippines (GMA), had acquired education from western schools particularly in Harvard University. The implication of this is that the way of thinking and decision making is mostly influenced by Western perspectives.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The misused of social research to legitimized the status quo should not be tolerated. The focus and purpose of social research should be on bringing out the truth and valid reality in the society and should not be use as a tool to deceive the people. Social research must serve its main functions as a political tool to initiate change in the society. Researchers should uncover the indigenous educational system, or if not, seek solutions to modify the Western perspectives and educational system to become applicable to the Philippine context.

Education from foreign or Western perspectives, specifically if related to the fields of administration cannot be a valid perspective for the Philippine context due to the fact that Western perspective could not at all be possibly applied across cultures for it is culturally-laden. Decolonization should start on the better bearing stage, elementary and high school accompanied by the decolonization in the academe. If such actions are to be successfully initiated, the possibility of developing an educational system, indigenous and uninfluenced by Western educational system, in cooperation with researchers, would be sufficient to start the decolonization process in the educational system and of the Philippines. Colonization of the mind is predominantly situated upon the academy (academe). Therefore, the academe/university and its role in decolonizing knowledge must be addressed. Unless these actions are done, the efforts of decolonizing knowledge and making other knowledge visible do not challenge the very effort/power we maintain to bring them to consciousness and to make them visible.-