In the Philippines patronage politics at the top and patronage practices on the ground reinforce each other. Rival national politicians at the apex, one after the other, manage to pursue rent-seeking behavior on a grand scale and with seeming impunity because they are able to escape accountability. These incumbents of the executive branch of government are able escape accountability through the support of their political allies in the Senate and the House of Representatives. The president’s legislative allies in turn rely on the political machineries of governors and mayors – whose survival turns on the periodic greasing of political organizations, which have been methodically built by cultivating relationships of dependency at the community level. The currency of these relationships of political dependency are pork barrel funds from the center, money from corruption, illicit activity, feudal agricultural ties and patronage-based employment in the public service.