MANILA – Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon dared President Rodrigo Duterte to encourage the Congress to pass the anti-dynasty law to dismantle oligarchy in the Philippines effectively.
The Ilonggo lawmaker said Duterte must go beyond the fact that he has his children in the politics in House Deputy Speaker Paolo Duterte, Davao City’s Mayor Sara Duterte and Vice Mayor Baste Duterte if he is really determined in dismantling oligarchy.
“With the popularity rating of the President, he has the capacity to push that in Congress,” Drilon said over at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay. “When you want to remove oligarchy as a power structure then you should rise above all of these.”
The Chief Executive, during his televised speech on Monday evening from Jolo, Sulu, bragged of being able to “dismantle” oligarchy in the country even without declaring martial law.
Drilon, however, stressed that simply being rich is not equivalent to being an oligarch as he also emphasized that political dynasties will continue to nurture oligarchy in the Philippines.
“Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people which use their power to seek personal gain or benefit their business interests,” Drilon said.
“To emphasize, you cannot equate rich and oligarch, meaning it does not mean that if you are rich, you are on oligarch. An oligarch is the one that influences the decision of the government or the one using their [riches] in order that the policy that they want will be pursued,” he added./PN
