A Family Business: Assessing Political Dynasties in the Philippines
Many names of the politicians vying for the position in government have sounded familiar over the years and well-known surnames are still perpetually present in the throne of Philippine politics. Even though they seem to have “good” platforms during the campaign period and always say, as redundant as this may sound, “sama-sama tayong babangon muli,” honestly, there are really no significant changes in our country until now. These “silly” commitments prove that promises are really made to be broken. Thus, political dynasties in the Philippines should be abolished at the nearest possible time.
Deny it or not, many voters are shading the names at the ballots during elections, not because they know the personality and background of a particular candidate, but rather the surname sounds familiar. Our country, the Philippines, has ingrained this system for decades.
In a survey performed in 2013, statistics confirmed that 250 out of 15 million Filipino families ruled national and local elections, constituting to 0.00167% of the population. Furthermore, these dynasties manipulate 73 out of 80 provinces throughout the country, and at least 55 of them will be controlling power for over forty years.
As overwhelming may this sound, it is certainly true. But why is this still occurring? Mainly because there is no law punishing it. As the 1987 Philippine Constitution explicitly stated in Article II, Section 26,
“The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”
But with the continued existence of dynasties, those possibilities are limited to simplest a few. Though, there have been bills filed in both senate and congress prohibiting political dynasties, it is still thwarted since in a sense, they already established a stronghold political country that secures their personal monopoly and businesses.
With political dynasties, it is not a question of qualifications and slogans, it’ll now be a question of connections and guns. It would be logically easy for them to manipulate the country and especially the people. On a more hopeful note, we want to see voters appoint someone who is qualified for the job and not simply because of their name. It may be a rough road, but we are assured that there is already light in the dark nightmares of past.
