Political
Dynasties Still Rule Philippine Politics
Across
the country, the same political clans are winning. Reports and allegations of
fraud and violence, often meant to prevent people from voting and to disrupt the
counting of votes, also show that their methods of holding on to power remained
the same.
By
Carlos H. Conde
Bulatlat.com
For
decades, the Dys of northern Luzon had lorded over Isabela as if the province
were their own fiefdom. In elections after elections, the Dys were undefeated
and, in many instances, unopposed. The people of Isabela were what one would
call captive voters.
Then,
in 2001, from out of the blue, Grace Padaca, a radio commentator disabled by
polio, emerged and ran against one of the Dys in the congressional race.
“They
were virtually unopposed. So in 2001, I wondered, ‘What if I run against them?
What if I just listed my name there as a candidate?’” Padaca recalled in an
interview. When she filed her candidacy and people learned about it, support
poured in. She lost, but only because, according to her, the Dys cheated.
Undeterred,
and spurred by the growing disenchantment by the Isabela folk toward the Dys and
the support of the religious and the progressive sectors, Padaca ran again in
this year’s elections, this time for governor, against Faustino Dy Jr.
Although other Dys are emerging victorious in other towns, it looks like the
40-year-old Padaca is going to end their dominance at the capitol, the throne of
the Dy dynasty.
But
it had not been easy for Padaca and those who now oppose the Dy regime in
Isabela. In this month’s elections, the Dys were accused of fraud and violence
in an effort to defeat Padaca. The Dys are demanding that the counting be done
in Manila – a move Padaca and her supporters opposed, knowing that anything
could happen in transit. Town halls and election materials were attacked or
burned down by armed men suspected of being Dy goons.
On
election day itself, the radio station where Padaca used to work, Bombo Radyo
Cauayan, was closed down, supposedly by the Comelec, although nearly every one
following the case know that the Dys had closed the station twice in the past
for being critical. The diocese of Ilagan, Isabela, had published full-page ads
in national newspapers criticizing the Dy regime and the closure of Bombo Radyo.
New
People’s Army
The
Dys had denied all these allegations, even threatening to sue the Philippine
Daily Inquirer for libel for a story about Padaca and the odds she faced. On
Thursday, they accused Padaca and her supporters of consorting with the New
People’s Army in an attempt to unseat the Dys.
“They're
doing this to me because I'm the only governor who had openly stood up to the
Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army,” Dy Jr. was
quoted by the Inquirer as saying. Padaca, he went on, is the NPA’s mouthpiece.
“That's why I was singled out by the NPA because I openly fought against
them."
Padaca
denied this charge. “The people demanded change,” Padaca said in an
interview.
She
added: “I am so proud of Isabelenos for finally deciding to oppose the Dys,
something they never did before. I just wish that the Dys would respect the
people’s voice, and that they wouldn’t feel insulted that somebody like me,
a polio victim, would defeat them.”
It
is perhaps not a coincidence that Padaca is single and childless. “My
constituents are confident that I can never form my own political dynasty,”
Padaca quipped.
The
Isabela experience, however, is more the exception than the rule in this
year’s elections.
Across
the country, political clans are winning. Reports and allegations of fraud and
violence, often meant to prevent people from voting and to disrupt the counting
of votes, also show that their methods of holding on to power remained the same.
President
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is leading in the presidential race, is herself the
head of a political clan that goes way back to the 1950s, when her father was a
legislator and later president.
Most
of the top 15 senatorial candidates belong to political clans with several
members in public office.
Still
dominant
In
the provinces, these families are still dominant. Among these are the heirs of
the late president Ferdinand Marcos as well his cronies and political allies,
such as the family of Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. chairman of San Miguel Corp., and
Juan Ponce Enrile, Marcos’s former defense minister who looks likely to win
another term as senator.
Political
dynasties became notorious for kowtowing with the dictator Marcos for years,
helping him perpetuate himself in power. A recent study by the Philippine Center
for Investigative Journalism found that two-thirds of the members of Congress
are from political dynasties.
The
same study traced the emergence of political dynasties in the Philippines to the
introduction by the Americans of electoral politics in the early 20th
century, when voting was initially limited to the rich and the landed, who then
monopolized public office.
The
image of the political dynasty as one being ran by a warlord has become the
exception than the rule, the study said. But the motives remain the same:
protecting the interest of the clan. As long as they remain in Congress, it
said, “these families will tend to legislate in favor of their own interests
to the detriment of that of the majority.”
“Political
dynasties are a terrible indictment of the kind of politics we have,” said
Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr., one of the very few in the Senate who doesn’t have
relatives in public office. “I do not believe that any one family has the
monopoly of talent to run government,” he added.
Among
the first things Pimentel did when former president Corazon Aquino appointed him
secretary of local government was to remove from power political dynasties
identified with Marcos. Ironically, many of the politicians Pimentel chose to
replace those clans later formed their own political dynasties. And the
dynasties soon came back to power because, according to Pimentel, “there was
no political will to follow through.”
After
the fall of Marcos, there were attempts to curtail political dynasties but these
did not pass the legislature, which has always been dominated by political
families. The anti-political dynasty bills, Pimentel said, “never got around
to first base.”
He
said there was a strong resistance to the bills. “Their argument was that, we
are in a democracy and the people decide whether we remain or not. So the
siblings, the wives, the brothers-in-law of these politicians also ran for
office, because, according to them, it’s the will of the people,” Pimentel
said.
Inequalities
Dr.
Encarnacion Teresa Tadem, director of the Third World Studies Center at the
University of the Philippines, said the continued flourishing of political
dynasties “is a reflection of the socio-economic inequalities in the
country.”
Political
dynasties are inherently wrong because they give a headstart in politics to a
member of the same family, Dr. Tadem said. “We’re lucky if the heir is
good” – citing the case of Pia Cayetano, who belong to a political clan in
Manila who is winning in the Senate race – “but what if he’s not?”
Still,
Dr. Tadem, couldn’t help wondering about the change this new breed of
politicians from these dynasties could bring to their constituents. “Many of
them study in universities and abroad. Are they still the same when they come
back? It’s interesting to see to what extent they are able to inject change on
their own.”
Dr.
Tadem said she is optimistic that when they go back to their provinces, they
will inject some change.
The
growing number of political clans is itself a factor that drives this change,
Dr. Tadem added. “There is no one dominant dynasty now,” she said. “There
is bound to be competition among the dynasties and that could translate into
better public service.”
Pimentel,
however, cautioned that while this change is good – “the heirs are young,
forward-looking and better-educated,” he said – the fact that they belong to
political clans still prevents equally promising young people from getting a
crack at public office. Bulatlat.com
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