THE previous two parts of this series discussed Philippine perspectives on democracy as handed down to us by America. We were gifted a version of governance that was deemed suited for us. America gave us a liberal unitary-presidential system of government, not its homegrown federal-presidential system, making this an experiment in its first colony.

We also briefly examined a model rooted in China with its underlying authoritarian ideals that propelled the massive, rapid lifting of its people's lives from stark poverty, but at some considerable cost to their freedoms and human rights, ideals so cherished in a democracy.