80 Chasing the Wind: Assessing Philippine Democracy resiliency and adaptability since the colonial era. Moreover, with their local political dominance and natural linkages with national elites, these families have been largely insulated from accountability mechanisms, already ineffective to begin with, in the context of a weak state tradition. Not surprisingly, electoral exercises in the country have largely failed as disciplining or accountability mechanisms. Thus, given their dismal record as instruments of vertical accountability, elections and parties in the country have failed to advance the process of democratization. Shaped by the needs and adaptations of the American colonial order, political parties in the country originated as vehicles to co-opt local elites from the anti-colonial revolutionary movement and later developed as convenient alliances of ilustrado politicians and municipal and provincial elites to legitimize their power and consolidate access to national patrons and resources. Divorced from any effective linkages and relationships of accountability with distinct social constituencies, the traditional parties remain as convenient electoral alliances, weakly institutionalized, and devoid of programmatic governance agenda. While not forsaking the need for institutional reforms to strengthen the party system as in the Party List, the greater push for strengthening the party system lies in giving full play to the development of alternative parties articulating distinct interests of social constituencies and challenging the traditional parties inside and outside the legal institutional arenas in open and protected forms of organized conflict. Naturally contentious and oftentimes protracted, the democratization process must establish predictable procedures and mechanisms for political engagement while ensuring a core set of human development outcomes for enhancing both individual and social welfare. Working for credible elections and parties is a necessary step in this direction but this daunting challenge remains unresolved and requires the collective participation and vigilance of the country's leaders and people.