The Publicness of Representation: The Basic Educators' Perceptions and Political Consciousness in the Philippines

This study attempts to look behind the democratic deficit in the Philippines' extremely protracted political development by examining the recent condition of the country's representation through the lens of the constituent-public-school teachers' political ideas and consciousness on representative process. Employing phenomenology design, this study utilized depth interviewing techniques and purposive sampling involving 10 participants whose collected responses revealed fundamental data-based political beliefs and human consciousness on representation. With its bottom-up directional orientation, it is deemed indispensable for a more sophisticated citizens' participation and better democratization process in the country. The study revealed that the participants' concept of representative process mirrored persistent grassroots’ failed expectations based on their experiential understanding of the essence of representation common to Filipino basic educators. Further, the uncovered participants' consciousness on representation made latent positive outlooks toward active post-electoral participation material to the pending country's transition to federalism.