Following the Grain: State Formation and Trans-local Grain-trading Networks in the Philippines

Abstract

With respect to the major approaches of state-society relations and Chinese business networks in Southeast Asia, two knowledge gaps are identified. First, little is known about how two sets of dualistic conceptual entities may be connected in the often-contentious state formation process between: (1) the ruling minority and ruled majority; and (2) the nationalising state and grain-producing frontiers. Second, very little is known about the role that the Chinese business networks played and how they contributed to the state formation processes. Using a Philippine trans-local grain-trading network as a site of investigation, the paper seeks to fill these knowledge gaps by delineating an integrative approach – designated as rhizomatic political economy – which argues that Southeast Asian state formation may hinge on the instrumentalisation of Chinese business networks and what is identified as their rhizomatic power/knowledge system. They are not just business-brokers in the trans-local grain trade that connects the national capital and grain-producing locales, but also serve as political brokers to implement state measures in regards to food and interior security affairs.

Key Words:

• Chinese business networks
• governance
• security
• grain trade
• political economy
• Philippines
• state formation

Acknowledgement

The author would like to thank the following institutions for making the field research possible: Armed Forces of the Philippines, Archdiocese of Tuguegarao, Cauayan City government, Yuchengco Center of De La Salle University, Department of Agrarian Reform, Diocese of Ilagan, Isabela provincial government, Tuao municipal government and Tuguegarao City government. The following institutions generously financed the research and writing of this article: City University of Hong Kong (grant nos. 9610084 and 7200096) and Chinese University of Hong Kong (grant no. 2020962). For the reviews and excellent editorial advice, the author is very grateful to the journal editors.

Notes

Interviews with Feliciano Cu, rice miller, Cagayan Valley, 18-22 July 2008. For obvious reasons, some informants' identities in this paper have been changed.

This section draws on a series of interviews. They were with: Virgilio Acasili, Provincial Agrarian Reform Officer, Cagayan Provincial Office, Department of Agrarian Reform, Tuguegarao City, Cagayan Valley, 4 April 2007; Antonio Rustico, Tuao, Cagayan province, 22 March 2007; Father Rusty Aggabao, parish convent, Tuao, Cagayan province, 22 March 2007; Joaquin Tan, Tuao, Cagayan province, 5 July 2004, 27-30 March 2007 and 24 April 2009.

The Republic of China Embassy was renamed the Pacific Economic and Cultural Centre. In the headquarters and local branches of the Federation of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, pictures of Kuomintang were stripped and only the Philippine flag was flown.

A methodological limitation must, however, be considered. As many Chinese-Filipinos do not carry their original Chinese surnames and many Filipinos have Chinese ancestry, the data used for the statistical analyses conducted in Figures 1, 2 and 3 may not fully reflect a complex reality. None the less, the trend suggests that, since 1986, increasingly more ethnic Chinese have been elected into public offices.

For more details on the methodology and a discussion of the political praxis involved, see Wong (2009a).

Interview with Ernesto Subia, Golden Harvests Grains Center, Barangay Aranay, Cabatuan, Isabela province, 20 July 2008. Ernesto's original Chinese surname is Uy. He has been a major miller and nation-wide distributor of the wag-wag rice of the Cagayan Valley to Henry Sy's SM ShoeMart supermarkets.

The information in this section relies on extensive interviews: with farmer Edgardo's family, Western Amulung, Cagayan province, 26, 29 March 2007, 14, 24 May 2007 and 9 April 2009; and with an anonymous former barangay official, Western Amulung, Cagayan province, 14 May 2007. It also draws on a farmers' survey dataset on land reform and grain trading, Western Amulung, Cagayan province, 13-17 May 2007, and Department of Agrarian Reform (2007a).

Angkan is similar to kinship. Although Filipino kinship is, in theory, essentially bilateral, in practice, one's angkan may entail a more extensive genealogical network causing a multilateral corporate group under a matriarch/patriarch.

This section draws on a series of media reports: Philippine Daily Inquirer, 7 and 17 April 2008; The Manila Times, 9 and 18 April 2008, 25 May 2008, 13 January 2009; and Bulatlat, 8, 18, 8-14 June 2008.

The information on the report is from the Plenary Session of the Eighth Congress, third regular session, Records and Archives Division, the Philippine Congress: Senate Resolution No. 676 (introduced by Senator Ernesto Maceda, 16 November 1989); Privilege Speech of Senator Wigberto Tañada: Krisis sa Bigas: Krisis sa Pananaw at Patakaran [Rice Crisis: Crisis in Views and Policies] (25 January 1990); and Privilege Speech of Senator Teofisto Guingona Jr.: Break the Rice Cartel (30 January 1990).

Senate Resolution No. 1302 (introduced by Senator Ernesto Maceda, 18 November 1991), Plenary Session of the Eighth Congress.

The sources are available from the Plenary Session of the Ninth Congress, second regular session, Records and Archives Division, Philippine Congress: Senate Resolution No. 546 (introduced by Senators Anna Coseteng and Ernesto Maceda, 2 August 1993); Senate Resolution No. 558 (introduced by Senator Ernesto Maceda, 6 August 1993); Senate Resolution No. 559 (introduced by Senator Ramon Revilla, 6 August 1993); and Senate Resolution No. 575 (introduced by Senator Santanina Rasul, 12 August 1993).

This information is based on: an interview with Magno Lim, Tuguegarao city, Cagayan Valley, 8 December 2007; communication with mayor Delfin Ting, Hotel Delfino, Tuguegarao city, Cagayan Valley, 8 December 2007; an interview with mayor Caesar Dy, Cauayan city, Isabela province, 12 December 2007; and interviews and fieldwork with Rufino Arcega, city agriculturist, Cauayan city, Isabela province, 10-14 December 2007 and 18-22 July 2008.

Field notes and interviews with grain-traders and millers in the Cauayan-Luna-Cabatuan cluster, Isabela province, 10-14 December 2007 and 18-22 July 2007.

Interviews with Leoncio Tan, Golden Seasons Grains Center Inc., Luna, Isabela province, 13 December 2007 and 20 July 2008. Interview with Janet Tio, office, Manila, 25 July 2008.