Political dynasties

BEHIND THE SCENES

Alfred P. Dizon

If this Banana Republic is teeming with political dynasties most of which are perceived to be just after the perks of power, money and affluence, blame it on the Senate and the House of Representatives, according to our drunken neighborhood philosopher during another of our roadside talks.

There must be some grain of truth in his statement since no anti-political dynasty bills have been acted upon in the Senate since the start of regular session in 2013, according to Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago herself who has filed two anti-political dynasty bills – Senate Bills 1580 and 55 – while Sen. JV Ejercito filed Senate Bill 1906.

In her bill, Santiago described political dynasty as an “anathema in a democracy.” She said political dynasties have become “invulnerable and constitute an open defiance of our Constitution… blatantly undermining the rule of law.”

Santiago’s proposals deal with political dynasty in local and national elective posts.

“Concentration of political power today is no longer just local, but also national, most likely because of the greater efficiency and nationalized impact of various systems of information dissemination,” she said.

Santiago’s anti-dynasty bills remain pending at the Senate committee on electoral reforms and peoples’ participation chaired by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III.

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In his bill, Ejercito said the extended family system in the political arena has found its pernicious effects as public office has become the exclusive domain of influential families.

“Such families have become so well-entrenched in Philippine politics they have monopolized political power and public resources at all levels of government,” he said.

He noted that once a politician is elected to public office, he or she immediately builds a strong political base to ensure not only his or her re-election but also ensure that such electoral support will extend to his spouse and other relatives.

Ejercito cited the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report by Temario Rivera which showed that 94 percent or 72 of the 77 provinces have political families.

The UNDP also reported that the average number of political families per province is at 2.31, meaning there are at least two political clans in most of the provinces.

Rivera said most political families have succeeded in winning gubernatorial and congressional elections since the 1987.

Ejercito’s measure limits the dynasty provision to those running for local posts.

SB 1906 stated that political dynasty relationship exists when a person who is the spouse or relative up to the second degree of consanguinity of an incumbent elective official runs simultaneously with the incumbent official within the same city or province.

In case the constituency of the incumbent elective official is national in character, the relatives shall be disqualified from running only within the same province where the former is a registered voter, Ejercito said

There are two sets of siblings at the Senate – Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano and Ejercito and his half-brother, Jinggoy Estrada.

Jinggoy and Ejercito’s father, former President Joseph Estrada, is mayor of Manila while Ejercito’s mother, Guia Gomez, is mayor of San Juan.

The Cayetanos’ younger brother, TV and film director Lino Cayetano, who is representative of the second district of Taguig City, is reportedly being groomed for the Senate when Pia finishes her term next year. Alan’s wife, Lani, is mayor of Taguig.

Now comes boxing hero Manny Pacquiao who said he may end his historic career in the ring, while his followers say he may set his eyes on a much bigger prize – president of the Philippines.

Political analysts are saying he has started to build his own political dynasty.

The world champion, who will fight American Floyd Mayweather Jr. today (Sunday) in boxing’s richest fight, has used the fame and wealth generated by his remarkable sporting feats to launch a successful political career.

The 36-year-old former street kid is now a second-term congressman, confirmed his presidential ambitions to AFP in 2013, but has since been coy about his political plans.

“Yes,” he said then, when asked if he wanted to be president. “(But) it’s far away... it’s God’s will.”

In the run-up to the Mayweather bout, Pacquiao’s American promoter, Bob Arum, reignited Pac-the-politician talk when he said his client had a strategy laid-out for a presidential run.

“He is going to be a president,” Arum told paparazzi website TMZ . “He is going to run for the Senate of the Philippines in 2016 and then 2022 or maybe later he’ll run for president.

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Although he is almost unanimously adored in the country for his exploits in the ring and widely admired for his sportsmanship, there are doubts about whether he has what it takes to be president.

Pacquiao has the dubious distinction of having the worst attendance record in Congress last year, raising questions as to whether he is truly committed to helping his constituents.

Pacquiao was present in only four of 70 session days in 2014, according to parliament attendance records. They also showed he authored only four bills, none of which passed into law.

“That’s what you call a zero record,” Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform, told AFP.

Many also believe Pacquiao, has embraced the bruising, big-spending tactics that are commonly used in the Philippines’ ruthless political ring. “Unfortunately, he is learning the bad side of politics,” Casiple said.

Casiple noted that, since losing in his first campaign in 2007, Pacquiao has turned political rivals into allies, paving the way for his own political dynasty.“He was a good student of traditional politics after he lost,” he said.

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One of Pacquiao’s longtime political mentors is Luis “Chavit” Singson, a self-confessed former gambling lord who leads his own political dynasty and whose politician son was jailed for cocaine possession in Hong Kong.

Former congresswoman Darlene Antonino-Custodio, who gave Pacquiao his first and only political defeat in 2007, said the boxer could be too gullible in terms of whom he decided to choose as allies.

“I like Manny. I think he is a very sincere politician. He just needs to be careful about who he surrounds himself with,” she said. Still, Pacquiao showed in his successful campaign for a congressional seat in 2010 elections that he was a savvy politician, according to political observers.

He reportedly used his vast wealth to defeat dynasty patriarch Roy Chiongbian in the poor province of Sarangani.

He spent enormous amounts to win favor, giving a mayor a firetruck, building a gymnasium, installing electricity and potable water systems in churches and mosques, and paying for scholarships and funerals.

Pacquiao also quickly began laying the groundwork for a political dynasty

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Dynasties are widely blamed for the Philippines’ endemic corruption and weak democracy, with families using their power in local fiefdoms to control businesses and perpetuate their rule.

An AFP report said Pacquiao’s popularity and influence helped his wife Jinkee, a political-novice housewife who had only previously worked as a shopping mall beauty consultant, get elected as Sarangani vice governor in 2010.

The Pacquiao couple’s children maybe too young for politics, but from all indications, analysts say, they are preparing them for more bigger things ahead – like politics. The kids are now studying in the most expensive and prestigious schools.

Not bad for someone who used to starve and sleep on the streets, as Pacquaio himself admitted. Give it to the guy – he is the nation’s epitome of overcoming all odds for a better lease in life. Now he has everything – except being President. He may get the position, sooner or later -- with the country’s constituents sick and tired of corruption perpetuated by this Banana Republic’s political elite.