Venue

IN-PERSON: PSC Reading Room, 4.27 Hedley Bull Building, Australian National University, Acton, ACT, 2601.

Chasing Clout: Manila Transport Workers as a Voting Bloc, Past and Present

The rig drivers of Manila in the late 1920s and 1930s constituted a formidable voting bloc. Political commentators referred to this phenomenon as the "calesa vote" (speaking of the city’s then-ubiquitous horse-drawn carriages), which was strong enough to influence politics both at the city and national levels. It was an early instance of populism in Philippine politics. In the early postwar period, that clout seemed to have been sustained, but this time wielded by the new "kings of the road," the jeepney drivers. However, that no longer seems to be the case at present, especially in light of the impending phase out of jeepneys as a mode of public transport.

This seminar presentation compares the level of political clout that transport workers have had past and present. Although the presentation shows a clear decline in their level of influence through the decades, it also gestures toward a possible new source of clout: motorcycle riders and ride-hailing app workers, as indicated by voting patterns in the last two national elections.

Speaker

Michael D. Pante is associate professor, Department of History, Ateneo de Manila University, and chief editor of Philippine Studies: Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints. He is the author of A Capital City at the Margins: Quezon City and Urbanization in the Twentieth-Century Philippines (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 2019). His forthcoming second book, The Impact of Martial Law on Philippine Education, 1972-1986: Foregrounding Teachers' Perspectives, will be published by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines in 2025. He is currently a visiting fellow of the ANU Philippines Institute.

The discussion will be chaired by Dr. Cleo Anne Calimbahin, ANU Philippines Institute Senior Visiting Fellow, based in the Department of Political and Social Change (PSC) and Professor, Department of Political Science and Development Studies, De la Salle University-Manila

This event is co-hosted by the Department of Political and Social Change, Coral Bell School of Public Affairs and the ANU Philippines Institute.

If you require accessibility accommodations or a visitor Personal Emergency Evacuation plan please contact the event organiser.