BY JAZMIN BANAL
FILIPINOS are clannish. Nothing wrong with that, unless it involves politics.
Consider the following data from the Ateneo School of Government: In 30 years, political dynasties — specifically families holding elected positions at the same time — increased by about 170 local positions per election period. In 2019, three out of 10 local positions were occupied by families with at least two elected family members. Among Governors, it was four out of five. At the national level, 67% of Congressmen belonged to families that were magkakasabay.
If we look at Quezon City, the Third District, for example, the Defensors occupied the House of Representatives starting in 1995 (Mike), then 2001 (his sister), then 2004 (his father). That’s 15 years of magkakasunod. The Philippine Constitution allows only three congressional terms. There was a break from 2010 to 2019 when my brother won. (He was Councilor from 2004 to 2010, after my father served from 1995 to 2004.) The position went to Allan Reyes in 2019 and Franz Pumaren in 2022. Meanwhile, the son of Reyes was elected as one of six Councilors in 2022, and in 2025 the father and son will run against Pumaren and his son.
When my father wanted to run as Party-List Representative, he could not pursue it as my brother was an incumbent Congressman. Our family went through a difficult period of talking and processing and heartbreak. I wonder, since our government is full of Villars and Cayetanos, Gatchalians and Tulfos, how their families decided it was only right to take it all and go magkakasabay. I wonder how your families saw it, this running in the family, whether it’s good for everyone.
I suppose, in the short term, it pays to have the same faces. There’s continuity of programs and transfer of skills and knowledge. On some self-interest level, there’s more chances of getting help, of going up, if you personally know one member of a political clan.
But here’s the thing. Their brand of politics is business. Their brand of leadership is self. No matter their expertise, no matter their declarations of service, they’re in it for power. No, not just any kind of power, but perpetuating their hold on communities and businesses, literally taking over our land, the airwaves and radio frequencies, playing with our culture of pakikisama, loyalty and that reverence to the mighty. It’s like the mafia in the movies; everywhere they look, they think, Take it! Take it!
Legislators will not pass a law that will define political dynasties despite the Constitutional command to prohibit political dynasties. But there are people who do not want to be complicit in this cycle of patronage. Recently, a group of citizens and a political party went to the Supreme Court to compel Congress to pass an anti-dynasty law. Another group filed disqualification cases in Comelec against dynasties in various areas. Journalists and creatives can also publish investigative reports and interactive materials to help voters — not just in Metro Manila but those in the provinces — know their politicians and their political clans. Identify the incumbents who opposed anti-dynasty efforts and candidates who refused to follow the Constitutional mandate and vote them out of office. This is the power of the people, and we must exercise it.
If there’s anything I witnessed in 2022, it’s this: change will not come easily, but it will come specially if it starts from the ground. In more ways than we can imagine, it has begun./PN
