“The state
shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibits
political dynasties as maybe defined by law,” says Section 26, State Policies, 1987
Philippine Constitution. The congressmen and senators are therefore required to
pass laws to implement that provision. However, after three
decades they are yet to act on it. Instead of fading out, political dynasties
have grown bigger, dominating the political landscape from Luzon to Mindanao.
The poverty
of the poor and the greed of people in the government are some of the factors
that breed corruption. The desire of some politicians to hold high positions
and influence can make them do whatever it takes to hold on to power. These include
vote buying during elections and the giving of ayuda or aid especially
to the poor. There is nothing wrong with giving material or financial help to people
and in fact it is an admirable act if done occasionally. But giving it in the
long term for political reasons is another matter. They will just make people habitually
indolent and dependent on others for their needs. Spending money beyond the
amount of their salary and other benefits for the whole duration of their term
will make politicians prone to commit corrupt practices.
The country
has had leaders from political families from the national to local levels since
its independence from the United States. However, issues such as corruption,
underdevelopment and others persist, and people think that their leaders or their
political systems have failed them. It will be an exaggeration to say that
political dynasties are the root cause of our problems, but certainly it is one
of them. Eliminating one of the issues which is political dynasty is a step in
the right direction to move this country forward. It is imperative for the legislators to pass
anti-political dynasty laws because: 1) They are mandated by the constitution
to do it, 2) the people expected them to do so, 3) the good of the people must
prevail over their self-interest. Further below are some of the reasons to have
an anti-political dynasty law:
Political
dynasties treat government offices like family business. The head of political dynasty is
not content with having an elective position all alone. He wants to share the
privilege with other members of the family. This will result in members of
political families holding multiple government positions all at the same time
from the national down to local levels including the barangay.
Political
dynasties undermine our representative democracy. Most often, politicians from political
families are among the rich in a community. They have the name, the money, and
the machines for an election. For this reason, it is hard for a qualified and
well-intentioned candidate to beat them. Candidates from dynasties always win
elections because the playing field is not level on their opponent. Another
concern is the party list system which is for the underprivileged and underrepresented
sectors to have representations in congress is also intruded into by political
dynasties. This happened because the dynasties have gotten around the rules of
the party list. As a result, this increases the number of family members or
relatives holding multiple elective positions at the same time. Another example
of dynasties monopolizing public office is the senate where there are four
pairs of siblings as senators which is equivalent to 1/3 of the total number of
24 senators in that chamber.
Political
dynasties breed corruption. Long serving politicians such as senators and representatives who
belong to political families have a say on government infrastructure projects
under their jurisdiction. This will make them in contact with DPWH officials, other government agencies and private contractors involved in project implementation. Their
connections make them close to each other, and it’s highly likely that kickbacks
and commission will become a secret deal in their transactions. This assertion is
corroborated in the flood control investigation in Bulacan and other parts of
the country where hundreds of billions of pesos are wasted through
corruption. It is not just enough to punish the culprits since people who will
take their place might be as corrupt or more corrupt as the people they replace
with. Fixing the system might be a better way to prevent the wrongdoings from
persisting.
What can
be done to check the growth of political dynasties:
Massive
information campaigns
should be conducted to educate the people about the negative effects of
political dynasties. This can be done through the social or mainstream media and
even through the ordinary people themselves since nowadays information can be
easily accessed with a cell phone. Church, civil society, schools, students and
the youth such as the millennials and Gen Z should be tapped for this endeavor.
Their clamor will make the topic of anti-political dynasty an issue in the 2028
election, and people will vote for anti-political dynasty candidates. If
majority of them win, then a law could be passed in the next congress.
If above
method fails, then a people’s initiative will be the next option. People
can make laws they want if the lawmakers are negligent or unwilling to perform
their mandate. The initiative needs the verified signatures of 10% of total
number of registered voters in the Philippines, with at least 3% of total
number of verified registered voters for each legislative districts.
The last
resort is a constitutional convention. This time there will be delegates
who will deliberate not only on political dynasty but also on other matters of importance.
There will be amendments or changes to the 1987 Constitution as the delegates
may deem appropriate under the circumstances.
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