Gerry Arambala

The advent of the equality of capability theory, as developed by Amartya Sen, has brought about the radicalization of the conventional theories of social justice and development. Sen’s remarkable contribution in the field of developmental theories has paved the way for the reconfiguration and development of normative economics and political philosophy. With his insistence on humanizing development and focusing on the actual freedom of the person as the main criteria for development, Sen’s capability approach will be utilized as the moral framework in assessing the government’s response measures to fight against COVID-19 pandemic. The global pandemic poses an immediate threat to both the poorest of the poor communities and to the health care sectors of society. Consequently, any response measure that the government should take must be directed towards sustaining both the socio-economic and healthcare objectives. It must help in enabling poor communities to sustain themselves during the entire pandemic; more so, it must likewise capacitate and strengthen the healthcare system in order to provide better services to the infected and to protect its healthcare front-liners. The crucial question of equality of capability among the poor and the front-liners will be examined by the paper using the capability approach theory in the context of the global pandemic.

While Ozamiz city’s politics is in its early stage of recovery from its previous political deterioration proliferated by its former ruling power predators, the city’s politics is yet again put to the test with the advent of a global pandemic. As the disease progresses in the Philippine archipelago over the past five weeks some 5, 453 Filipinos are infected, with 349 deaths and 353 recoveries; such are the numbers even if the entire country is in strict community lockdown. The local government unit headed by the city Mayor, in coordination with the provincial government in fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic has placed the entire city under community quarantine. Nonessential establishments are closed; however, grocery stores, pharmacies and the city’s public market remain open; classes in both public and private institutions in all levels and school functions are suspended. Under the city’s community quarantine memorandum 24 hours of curfew for students and high risk adults is implemented; everybody are encouraged to stay in their respective houses and ration of food packs are distributed for every household; checkpoints are placed in national roads in the entrance and exit of the city in order to limit engagement from the people outside Ozamiz; social distancing policy is strictly implemented. The radical means the city has undertaken is directed towards stopping any possibility of contagion in the city. However, with the majority of the population being poor, problems of subsistence in the midst of vast work displacements and the lack of income among the city’s poor arise. It is for this reason that the paper is intended to assess in particular the program and the steps undertaken by the local government to answer the cries of the poor during this difficult time.

Thomas Pogge presents a historical picture in terms of the unjust distribution of wealth around the world. Unjust structures contribute to the suffering and misery of people, especially in Third World countries, whose citizens do not have an easy access to quality but expensive medical treatment, thus putting them at a disadvantage. This paper looks into the problem of unequal resource distribution around the world, using the Capability Approach as lens, and proposes the notion of positive health as a right that will secure the welfare of people in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Political violence is a broad term that is often identified with acts of violence perpetuated by individuals or the state with the lone purpose of achieving political goals. Political violence may come in two modes, either as political terrorism or counter terrorism. The former is determined as the aggressive manipulation of an individual’s judgments by threats and intimidations to achieve political change. Such intimidations are often perpetuated by non-governmental agents who act on the basis of a certain political ideology. The latter presupposes the preventive measures the government is doing in fighting against all forms of terrorism, which in the process will inevitably lead to war. War, in this regard, is conceived to be the lone and most feasible alternative, taken by the state, in order to resolve arm conflicts and political violence. With the intention that in so doing, the absolute welfare and well-being of the people is safeguarded and proliferated. It is for this reason that the paper intends to examine whether the well-being of the people is upheld if the state, inflicted with arm conflicts and terrorism, will engage with war against non-government agents. Moreover, the paper intends to examine, following Amartya Sen’s capability approach, how both of these forms of political violence affect the development of the individual. This paper, following Sen, adheres to the idea that any attempt of resolving violence by resorting to war is futile. War in all its form is destructive to the claim of individual development. The government that readily engages into war without having to consider first any democratic dialogues in solving arm conflicts is not fulfilling its task of protecting and prioritizing the development of the people. In war there is no individual development.

The history of Philippine democracy is marked with the persistent existence of oppressive forces that subjugate the people. Oppression and corruption are the two historically rooted characteristics of Philippine politics. One of the many reasons for the proliferation of corruption and oppression is the existence of local warlords who impose their power over the masses. These political warlords immure the people by violence in order for them to remain in power. The oppressive structure of governance designed and imposed by these warlords became the mainstream structure of government. Democracy is no longer intended to secure the development of the people, but for the few who are in power. Ozamis city is not immune from such structural injustice; for decades the city was ruled by a family whose failure in running a democratic state is prevalent in the actual lives of the people in the city. Not until a radical shift of power was realized in the advent of a progressive leadership exhibited by Police Chief Inspector Jovie Espenido. Though his critics may brand his leadership as authoritarian, it will be argued that radical means are necessitated in order to restructure society and to redirect its course towards bettering the lives of the people. Disruption is needed not just to challenge the present state. It is intended to uproot the putrefied structure that has taken roots in the system in order to plant a new. This paper intends to philosophically assess Jovie Espinido’s leadership following Chantal Mouffe’s radical democracy paradigm.

For over 30 years, Ozamiz city was ruled by a political dynasty whose predatory politics has brought about the radical deficit of democracy in the state. Politics in the city is characterized with political harassments and violence. For three decades the ruling family succeeded in reformulating the democratic values of the place that they were able to rule the city without any threats of popular uprising and protestations. With their political machinery they were able to hostage the people of Ozamiz; often denying most of the citizens their freedom to insist for their fundamental democratic rights and entitlements. However, with the advent of a radical leadership exemplified by Chief Inspector Jovi Espenido, the fate of democracy in the city is radically empowered. This paper intends to examine the state of politics of Ozamiz city following Chantal Mouffe’s radical democratic paradigm. It aims to elucidate how Mouffe’s antagonistic democracy fits to the state of politics in Ozamiz after the progressive leadership of Jovi Espinido was realized.