The Philippines celebrates the 125th anniversary of its independence this year. Often the solemnity of such an historic occasion gets overwhelmed by the pomp and pageantry in commemorating the event. And Pinoys do love their pomp and pageantry!
Needless to say, reflecting on Philippine nationhood must also be part of the celebration. Film, television, and all other forms of artistic expression will do their part to help Filipinos with this exercise. The danger, of course, is to be trapped in nostalgia. We do not want this to happen because it hinders learning from our past.
The old saying, “Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan.”, comes to mind.
Thus, with the aim of elevating our political consciousness in mind, I am reminded of a passage from one of the works of Jose Rizal, The Indolence of the Filipino—
“”The good curate,” he says with reference to the rosy picture a friar had given him of the Philippines, “had not told me about the governor, the foremost official of the district, who was too much taken up with the ideal of getting rich to have time to tyrannize over his docile subjects; the governor, charged with ruling the country and collecting the various taxes in the government’s name, devoted himself almost wholly to trade; in his hands the high and noble functions he performs are nothing more than instruments of gain. He monopolizes all the business and instead of developing on his part the love of work, instead of stimulating the too natural indolence of the natives, he with abuse of his powers thinks only of destroying all competition that may trouble him or attempt to participate in his profits. It matters little to him that the country is impoverished, without cultivation, without commerce, without, industry, just so the governor is quickly enriched!””
Here Rizal is using a quote from a French traveler who lived in the Philippines to emphasize that the abuse of power by political elites was the true reason why Filipinos remained poor and hopeless in a land of natural beauty and bounty.
The hacienderos and the encomienderos monopolized both political and economic power, as if these were their god-given right. They treated others who did not belong to their class as inferior and oppressed them severely in order to keep them that way.
Sadly, we still see the “governor” today in the form of political dynasties. Political clans now dominate our economy and politics. Close to 90% of our legislators, both in the Senate and in the House of Representatives, belong to fat political dynasties. Meaning, they have multiple members of their clans simultaneously holding public office.
Our current President is a good example. His sister is a senator. His first cousin is the Speaker of the House of Representatives, where his son is also a member. His nephew is the governor of their home province. Various relatives hold different local positions there as well.
But remember that this web of familial ties within government is not unique to the President’s clan. These kinship links in political office are commonplace now. We even have a dynasty where mother and son are in the Senate, daughter and daughter-in-law are in the House of Representatives, and the father holds the distinction of being the wealthiest Filipino today.
Still, political dynasties do not treat us, at least not overtly, as their inferiors. Nor do they oppress the rest of the population in the way the indios were marginalized during Rizal’s time. But just like the “governor”, dynastic politicians inevitably utilize their political power for their economic gain. National development will always be a mere secondary consideration for them.
In a democracy, suffrage is the power of the people to choose the right persons to manage their government. If incumbent officials are not performing up to par, the voters will always have a chance to replace them in the next election.
In the Philippines, the domination of political dynasties has undermined the electoral process by making genuine political competition virtually impossible. Equity of the incumbent, name recall, and patronage politics all make the hold of dynastic politicians on power almost unbreakable.
More critically, the unabated expansion of political dynasties augurs the decay of democracy in the Philippines because it stifles the general public’s access to opportunities for public service. Citizens who do not have the political pedigree are severely disadvantaged when competing in electoral contests.
The lack of genuine political competition ultimately equates to bad governance. Previous studies on political dynasties in the Philippines show that lower standards of living, lower human development, and higher levels of deprivation and inequality persist in the districts governed by dynastic politicians. Even more alarming is the fact that the fattest dynasties are ensconced in the poorest parts of the country.
The reality now is that many local communities in the Philippines continue to suffer inept and corrupt dynastic leaders. Those who can push for reforms but do not have the inherited political advantage are in effect denied the right to run for public office because of the monarchical nature of electoral politics.
It is a tragedy indeed, that the weakening of democracy in the Philippines has been gradual and shrouded by the regularity and necessity of holding periodic elections. Rizal, Bonifacio, Mabini and our national heroes will turn in their graves seeing the slow death of the democracy that they had died for. And how it has come to pass so easily unnoticed by us. The Pinoy adage, “ginigisa sa sariling mantika”, rings so true here.
But who knows, given the strength of youth activism in the country, we may soon be hearing on our streets once again loud chants of “Sobra na! Tama na! Palitan na!”.
Bionote: Author is a law lecturer, policy analyst and constitutionalist.
