(THIRD OF 4 PARTS)

SAME POLITICIANS… SAME RESULTS

We’re complaining about political dynasties, right? But haven’t we realized we are guilty of creating the political dynasties in the Philippines? Yes, we have to admit it. We allowed the same politicians and their family members to lord it over in the Philippine political landscape.

When a politician, let’s say a mayor, could no longer run for re-election due to term limits, what would the honorable gentleman do? Turn his back on politics? Of course not! Power is so addicting. So many of those who experienced being at the helm of either local or national politics (and enjoyed the benefits, including those “passed under the table”) would not just quit politics or pass the torch to another person.

So, what would happen?

His wife would run for the position he previously held. Then that politician would run for another post –  as governor, perhaps. Most of the time, Filipino voters would allow them to win, and usually, they would be able to mesmerize (or buy) the voters to luckily get re-elected until they reach their term limits. Would it be the end? Would their thirst for power (and the so-called “benefits”) be finally satiated?

You know the answer… a resounding NO.

The couple would ask their son or daughter (a grandson, a granddaughter, or an in-law) to run for the positions they would vacate. The shocking thing (and you might not believe it) is that there are times when siblings, or even husbands and wives, do not give way to the other, and so members of the same family slug it out in the political arena.

Anyway, this is not about family members squabbling in the political arena but about the political dynasties their families created.

Let’s continue, then.

Let’s return to the mother who just reached her term limit as mayor. Would she go back to being a full-time mother and wife? You were born only yesterday if you don’t know the answer to that question. Yes – she would run for the post vacated by the husband-politician. The husband would then aim for a higher position  – run as congressman or senator. If all family members win, then for years, the power will change hands within the same family. The son (or daughter) is a mayor, the mother a governor, and the father either a congressman or senator. When term limits are reached, they will just run for the position a family member would vacate. Some siblings, and even in-laws, in the family also occupy minor positions in their geographical units.

Did that family create their political dynasty? No! We did it. We Filipinos created the political dynasties in the Philippines.

Now, answer these questions – “How (did they perform) are they performing  as leaders?” “What is the country’s current economic, social, and political condition?” “Is the Philippines  marching towards progress with them holding the reins of government for God knows how long?”

Of course, you know the answers to the foregoing questions.

How many of the available positions in the Philippine government, local and national, are held by the same families who have been the gods and goddesses of Philippine politics since time immemorial? Most of them are offspring of the peninsular who survived  “America’s power grab” at the turn of the 20th century. Eventually, they stayed in the country and reaped the dividends. And it’s not only the politics that they dominate. With the enormous fortune they inherited from their Spanish parents/grandparents, they also control the country’s economy. That’s why  Filipinos sometimes jokingly ask – “Did the Spanish rule really end?”

Only a few pure-blooded Filipinos and foreign expatriates of Chinese origin who became wealthy when the Americans took their turn to colonize the Philippines had the financial resources to challenge the Spanish mestizos for political supremacy in the Philippines, especially after the Americans granted the Filipinos their independence after the World War II. Some of them succeeded, and when they experienced how intoxicating power is, they (and their offsprings)  kept running, and we kept electing them as if nobody else were qualified.

It is no longer surprising that politicians holding national positions have one or two family members and in-laws holding seats in the local government.

Filipinos might ask, “When would the same people from the same families pass the reins of leadership to each other in national and local governments after elections end?”

That’s up to the Filipino voters.

So, we should not wonder why the World Bank still classifies the Philippines as a “developing country.”

According to Albert Einstein, “insanity” is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result.

Why do we expect a better-performing government when we keep electing the same politicians?

PART 4 (FILIPINOS’ HAMARTIA)

PART TWO (CLOWN-GRESS)

PART ONE (THE CURSE OF VOTE BUYING)