Nowadays, so called 'social capital' has been risen to the surface of intellectual concerns by such social scientists as Mark Granovetter, Robert Purtnam, Piere Bourdieu, and Francis Fukuyama, etc. Focusing on the economic effects of the social relations and networks, they have tried to revitalize the theme of moral ties that had been neglected in the academic communities for a long time. Despite some variances in their arguments according to the major fields and concerns, they all share the common thought that social networks can be utilized as the mobilizing resources for the reduction of economic transaction costs.
 But, it is true that their primary concerns have been poured into the positive synergy effects of the social capital'. Naturally, they have unconsciously neglected the conditions that can check the growth of 'social capital' in the underdeveloped societies, including the Philippines. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the social capital of the Philippines, by focusing on the value system and the family structure that are thought to be related to the formation of social institutions.
 The arguments can be summarized as follows. First, the Philippines have the characteristics of bilateral family and kinship system, which shows somewhat emotional instabilities in the group-related networks. Second, in spite of the instabilities, there are strong solidarities among the family members, which can be called 'familism'. The geological conditions and the articulated form of 'barangays' have been contributed to the strengthening of the family ties. Third, in these circumstances, Filipinos have created and developed the value systems of 'pamantayan', which might be roughly divided into three elements; 'Halaga' (cognitive-evaluative value), 'Asal' (emotional-expressive value), and 'diwa' (collective feeling and spiritual standard).
 Fourth, the Philippine style of familism, derived from these three value-elements, have been intermittently reinforced during the coercive colonial periods. In other words, the defence mechanism based on the familism has been operated against the harsh colonial rule. Fifth, as a result of these conditions, social capital of the Philippines reveals the traits of strong inner-group embeddedness and fragile inter-group linkages.
 Sixth, the fragility of the inter-group linkages is thought to be the critical cause of the weakness of public spheres. Due to the inner-group solidarities with weak inter-group linkages, the political sphere has been structurized into the patron-client relations among Filipinos, hence 'democracy without publicity'. In the economic sphere, such characteristics has molded the 'nepotistic structure of the Philippine capitalism or the so called 'crony capitalism'. Considering all these facts, the primary measures for the development of the Philippines should be directed toward the accumulation of 'social capital', and much stress should be layed on the up-bringing of spontaneous sociabilities among the Filipinos. In other words, it should be remembered that the Philippine society can only be saved from the current difficulties by the close inter-group linkages with strong inner group solidarities.