“Has the Philippines run out of qualified and competent public officials?”
The 1987 Constitution is very clear: “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”
This provision was no doubt prompted by the emergence of new political families and the consolidation of political power by the Marcos regime during the martial law era from 1972 onwards.
This was also intended to curtail the monopoly of power by a few families in the country. But in leaving the matter of prohibiting political dynasties to members of the legislature, the framers of the 1987 Constitution doomed the project to epic failure.
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the framers of the 1987 Constitution were too naive to think that Filipino politicians would willingly give up public office just because they said so.
It’s not surprising at all that our lawmakers have chosen to trash all bills seeking to prohibit political dynasties as it would render many of them jobless.
Now that we’re in the midst of another campaign for the May elections, we can very well see that the constitutional injunction against political dynasties has been conveniently ignored even at the highest levels.
Public office as family business is evident in the political rigodon in the Republic of Davao.
President Rodrigo Duterte has claimed that political dynasties flourish because the people clamor for them. He said that his family was “forced” to serve in Davao. His father Vicente stood as governor of the then-unified province of Davao, while he sat in Davao City—as mayor and representative for one term—for 22 years. His daughter is now running for vice-president while his other two sons are also gunning for public office.
If the First Family can get away with murder, in a manner of speaking, of course, why can’t lesser mortals follow suit?
It’s true that there would be no political dynasties if the Filipino electorate were more discerning and not unduly influenced by false narratives, outright vote-buying and barefaced intimidation, not to mention song-and-dance routines.
It’s easy to say, however, that voter education will allow them to make an informed judgment come election day, but the sad reality is that many Filipinos will vote for their relatives or whoever they’re familiar with, whether good or bad, or helped them in some way or another. And that’s the tragedy of Philippine politics.
Are political dynasties bad per se? The political system in this country can no doubt benefit from having public officials coming from the same family, but only if they are highly qualified, have a good track record in public office, and have not been involved in graft and corruption. Lineage alone does not automatically confer competence and excellence in public office.
To answer our own question then: Should we have political dynasties? Let’s have them, by all means, if they add to, and not subtract from, the democracy that we have built from the ground up over the decades. And perhaps we should even encourage them if they can contribute positively to the development of our political system, not run it to the ground.
What’s wrong with political dynasties, as implied by the 1987 Constitution, is that they tend to exclude the participation of more people in policy-making.
This same Constitution tried to be as democratic as possible by providing equal access to opportunities for public service through the party-list system, where underrepresented and marginalized sectors. Over time, however, the system was bastardized by those eager to enter public office through the backdoor, with even billionaires now able to take seats in the legislature intended for the basic sectors.
Political dynasties may work in countries where popular political figures have really made a difference in the lives of the people, but not where the political environment breeds paternalism and patronage.
As our own experience with political dynasties show, they do not necessarily have the common good or the public interest at heart first and foremost, but their own political and economic dominance, which is totally antithetical to the concept of participatory or grassroots democracy.
While some would rationalize political dynasties as inevitable or even necessary in areas where there’s a lack of competent alternative leaders, we believe that drawing leaders from a very narrow pool does not enrich but even diminishes our practice of democracy as a system of government where the people reign supreme.
We have a long way to go before we can navigate the transition from politics based on personalities and patronage to one based on programs and performance. We insist that democracy can still work in this country. But we should not allow political dynasties to rule the roost.
Has the Philippines run out of qualified and competent public officials that the same families who have been lording it over at the national and local levels for many years now want to continue to dominate the country’s political system in the years to come?
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