1 The Political Inequality In Democracy

Political Dynasty: A Political Inequality

Maria Ariebelle S.J. Santos

HUMSS 12-1

Manila Central University

October 2017
2 The Political Inequality In Democracy

Abstract
Political Dynasty has been present in our country for a long period of time already
and it seems like not much people are well informed about the factors involving this
issue. Political Dynasty turns the Philippines into a political enterprise. This issue
flaws the Philippine voting system as voting for someone who has a bigger name
rather than someone who is skilled or talented. This paper aims to show that the
political dynasty is currently still prevalent in our country, as well as its effects. This
paper also enumerates some of the political families that are still active in country. In
addition to this, it also tackles the possible solutions to stop political dynasty.

Keywords: political dynasty, anti-political dynasty bill, corruption

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Introduction
According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, a dynasty is a succession of rulers of
the same line of descent. Political dynasties are groups whose members occupy the
same elective position for many successive elections. The COMELEC also defined
political dynasty as a situation where people related to each other within the third
civil degree of affinity hold elective office simultaneously or some offices successively
in a region, legislative district, province, city or municipality.

Political dynasties started a long time ago even before Magellan went to our
country. In a book by Renato Constantino entitled Making of a Filipino, he explained
that communities in this era were accustomed to an early form of government and
politics. They had the datu, raja and the maharlika as their leaders in the tribal
community. As said by Stephanie Cabigao in a post in University of the Philippines
System Website, the datu, raja and maharlika may serve as archetypal models for
the formation of political dynasties. Recently, the Philippines started using the
automated election system in May 2010 for the first time nationwide and it was seen
in a study done my CenPEG that there are even more political dynasties in both of
the national and local levels.

Since most of us are not aware of this socio-political phenomenon in our

country, we are letting certain families to be powerful enough to control us, our
society, and our country. It seems that we are enslaving ourselves not with foreigns
but with our fellow Filipinos.

Political Families in the 21st Century Philippines

Political dynasty is a way for self-preservation and expansion of a family. These
families have used partnerships with lawyers, the media, showbiz personalities and
corporations to gain ever more popularity which will ensure their rule over Philippine
politics. Center for People Empowerment in Governance director for policy studied
Professor Bobby Tuazon said in an article that since the 1900s, candidates that are
dynastic have had a bigger chance of winning than others. It has been a usual thing
for citizens to base their decisions on personality-based campaigns with the support
of a dynasty. According to Tuazon, "such dynasties perpetuate and enjoy various
advantages in traditional kinship networks, political machineries, wealth, property,
access to government sources, weak political party system, weak electoral system,
culture of powerlessness among the people and warlordism."

The popularity of political dynasty is directly related to Oligarchy or government

by a small fraction of people or family. When a family has more than one member in
the politics, their wealth can grow two times bigger and they can even manipulate
each other in their way of ruling. Tradition has influenced our government greatly
which is also why political dynasties are more common nowadays. Some politicians,
however, are not all about the power and the wealth. A possible reason why political
dynasties exist is because of their desire to be influential. A politician alone is not
strong enough to change the people's views but with the help of their family, the
country might just stop and listen to what they want us to hear. Also, some political
dynasties do not exist for the benefit of each family member. There are those
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politicians who run against their own relative which may be because of some sort of
rivalry. With these kinds of politicians, their competition against each other affects
the government because their reason of running may not be entirely for public
service but to show their own family that they could do so much better. Similarly,
one of their reasons for running is still because of the desire for power and wealth.
This reason is inevitable because it is one of the things that being a politician offer.
Listed below are some political families in the Philippines:

1. The Cojuangco Family

The first female President of our country, former President Corazon Cojuangco-
Aquino, came from this clan and is probably the most famous politician from the
family. This Filipino-Chinese family is one of the wealthiest and most powerful
families in our country not only because of their businesses but also because of their
involvement in our politics. The dynasty started with Melecio Cojuangco who was
the First Representative of Tarlac's first district from 1907-1909. Eduardo Cojuangco
Jr. was a former Presidential candidate in 1992 ans was also part of the House of
Representatives. Former President Cory Aquino's father, Don Jose Cojuangco Sr, was
a Representative in the 10th Philippine Assembly. Cory was not his only child that
joined politics because in fact, his son Jose Cojuangco Jr was part of the House of
Representatives and his daughter-in-law, Margarita Cojuangco was a provincial
Governor. One of the Cojuangcos, specifically Mercedes Cojuangco, married Gilberto
Teodoro Sr. which linked the two families and adding the famous Gilberto "Gibo"
Teodoro Jr., a Presedential candidate for the 2010 elections, part of the family tree.

2. The Aquino Family

The Aquino name is one of the most known and most influential names in politics
today. The name dates all the way back from the Spanish era General Servillano
Aquino served as a delegate in the malolos congress. Until now the Aquinos still hold
powerful political positions with Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III serving as the
President of the Philippines. Noynoy's cousin, Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino IV is a
senator elect of our country. Tessie Aquino-Oreta and Agapito "Butz" Aquino were
former senators of our country. The assassination of Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr. gave
rise to the name on August 21, 1983. He was a senator who fought for freedom,
opposing Marcos during his presidency. Following this, his wife, Corazon Cojuanco-
Aquino ran for presidency and won. She became renowned for her peaceful
revolution and her admiration as the first female president of the Philippines.

3. The Marcos Family

The Marcos held power in Ilocos Norte since 1925. Ferdinand Marcos held the
longest term in the Philippines, from 1965 to 1986. During his term, he implemented
the martial law. He was eventually removed from office and died in exile. This was
considered a harsh time for the Philippines which started revolutions in attempts to
remove him from office. Today, his son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. or Bongbong, is a
senator, his daughter, Imee Marcos, is a governor, and his wife, Imelda Marcos, is a
congresswoman of Ilocos Norte.

4. The Binay Family

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The Binays hold power in Makati since 1986 when Corazon Conjuanco-Aquino
appointed Jejomar Binay as Mayor of Makati. He was succeeded by his wife, Elenita
Binay, who was a doctor before she was appointed. Jejomar Binay is cuurently the
Vice President of our country while his son, Jejomar Erwin "Junjun" Binay is the
current Mayor of Makati and his daughters, Maria Lourdes "Nancy" Binay is a
senator and Marlen Abigail "Abby" Binay is a Representative of the 2nd district of
Makati. The Binays have been one of the centers of attention when it comes to
corruption for they have unexplained wealth such as 400 hectres of property and
Jejomar’s wife being linked to Php 72.06 million grant.

5. The Ejercito-Estrada Family

This family was the hottest topic from 1998-2001 which was when Joseph "Erap"
Estrada was the president who is also the first president to be impeached from his
position. Erap was able to become a Mayor of San Juan, Vice President, President
and is currently the Mayor of Manila. After the unfortunate event that happened to
him, his sons Jose "Jinggoy" Ejercito Estrada and Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito Estrada
are still involved with politics up to now and are both senators and were former
Mayors of San Juan. The wife of Erap, Luisa Pimentel-Ejercito also became a senator
after her husband's reign. Emilio Ramon Ejercito III or most popularly known as E.R.
Ejercito is the nephew of the former president and was the Governor of Laguna and
is currently the Mayor of Pagsanjan, Laguna.

6. The Macapagal-Arroyo Family

Our former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is the daughter of the former
President Diosdado Macapagal from 1957-1961 made their family more popular with
all of the issues and problems that our country faced because of her. She was Joseph
Estrada's Vice President and since Erap was impeached, she became the President of
our country from 2001-2010. This family still reigns in their province, Pampanga and
some areas in Camarines Sur and Negros Occidental. Former President Gloria Arroyo
now holds a congressional position in Pampanga and three other relatives are part of
the House of Representatives. Her children are into politics as well; Diosdado Ignacio
Arroyo is the current Congressman of the second district of Camarines Sur, while her
brother-in-law, Ignacio Arroyo is in the fifth district of Negros Occidental. Her eldest
son, Mikey Arroyo, owns a seat in the House of Representatives and was part of the
second district in Pampanga.

Effects of Political dynasty in the Philippines

The simple requirements of citizens to be a registered voter is to live in the
Philippines for one year, be over the age of eighteen, and a Filipino citizen. In other
words, any resident over the age of 18 can vote. This includes the uneducated who
know nothing about politics but know a lot about showbiz and big names and a lot of
government officials ride on this.

Let us take a look at our former president, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III. The
question here is that, if he wasn’t an Aquino, would still he won the elections? As a
matter of fact, he did not want to become a president in the first place. The Liberal
Party’s front runner was initially Mar Roxas, who step down into running for the
6 The Political Inequality In Democracy

Vice-President position. The country needed to form a movement called “Noynoy for
President Movement” that would collect one million signatures in order to persuade
Noynoy to run. They think that just because he has the same name as the most
influential and well-loved former president, Corazon Aquino, he will accomplish just
as much as she has. So far, not everyone was happy with his performance, especially
with how he responded to the super typhoon, Yolanda.
A large part of corruption can be attributed to political dynasties. One
government official makes his name huge and the next thing we know, his next of kin
is running for office. The fact that they have the same last name gives him a big
advantage. In this country, names matter more than the actual ability to rule. Movie
stars are actually able to win in elections such as Joseph Estrada and Fernando Poe
Jr. They take advantage of the uneducated by making them think that just because
they have a big name, they are fit to rule.
The reason political dynasties are prevalent is because the more family members
there in office, the more control there is. In the Biliran Province, the congressman,
governor, board member, and mayor are all Esipinas. It is said that the votes were
won by massive vote buying. With this, can we say that they are fit to rule? As said
before, they take huge advantage in the uneducated and the desperate in the
Philippines. Those who would sell their vote for a few meals and those who do not
take politics seriously. This leads to bad decisions of rulers, inability to act
accordingly in emergency situations, and greed. These are what happens when the
incapable are voted by the uneducated.

Anti-Dynasty Bill and The True Decalogue

If we go back in history, political dynasty was opposed by Apolinario Mabini as
stated in his “The True Decalogue for Filipinos”. In the article, he said that “…Eighth.
Thou shalt strive for a Republic and never for a monarchy in thy country: for the
latter exalts one or several families and founds a dynasty; the former makes a people
noble and worthy through reason, great through liberty, and prosperous and brilliant
through labor.” In other words, Filipinos should ensure that the country is republic
and never to have dynasty because in dynasty, the power and authority were in the
hands of a certain family and not in the majority.
Until now, political dynasty is a big issue in our government for it has affected all
of us in many ways. Commissioner Foz, Commissioner Nolledo and Senator Santiago
filed bills to probihit this poltical dynasty. It was in 1987 when Commissioner Vicente
Foz proposed that political dynasties should be prohibited because he believed that
the idea of restricting this is to prevent one family from controlling political power as
against the democratic idea that political power should be given among our people.
Commissioner Teodulo Natividad, with the support of Commissioner Christian
Monsod, objected to Foz' proposal because he thinks that this would diminish the
power of the people to elect who they would want to be in position. However,
Commissioner Jose Nolledo agreed with Foz saying that if political dynasties were to
be restricted, we would have more political opportunities on the part of the poor but
deserving people to run for a position with a better chance of winning. Despite their
good arguments, the proposal was rejected.
Nolledo fought for his stand in the debate and so the government heard his
plea. In the Philippines Constitution, Article II, Section 26 says that "The State shall
7 The Political Inequality In Democracy

guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibits political
dynasties as may be defined by law." This excludes the accident birth or marriage.
The definition of political dynasty must not contradict the provision of guaranteed
equal access for the opportunity of public service and the essence of democracy
should prevail. (Tirol, 2012)
To support Article II, Section 26, the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago
attempted to pass a law to prohibit political dynasties in the Senate Bill No. 2649
during the first regular season of the 15th Congress in 2011. Sen. Santiago proposal
is to be known as the Anti-Political Dynasty Act. SB 2649 provided the definition of
political dynasty as "shall exist when a person who is the spouse of an incumbent
elective official or relative within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity
of an incumbent elective official holds or runs for an elective office simultaneously
with the incumbent elective official within the same province or occupies the same
office immediately after the term of office of the incumbent official. It shall also be
deemed to exist where two (2) or more persons who are spouses or are related
within the second civil degree if consanguinity or affinity run simultaneously for
elective public office within the same province, even if neither is so related to an
incumbent elective official." This definition was provided because it is one of the
problems in making an anti-political dynasty law since they have different
perspectives on what the definition of political dynasty is. Another reason is that
most of the officials came from political dynasty and if they pass this bill was like
committing suicide.

Possible Solutions
In order to remove a problem, it is important to look for the cause. What is that
cause of political dynasties? The most obvious cause would be the uneducated in the
Philippines. The majority of the population of the uneducated do not know much
about politics, let alone the people running the government. Little is known about
the senators, congressmen, or even the mayors. When little information is given
about our future leaders during the elections, who are they going to vote for? The
most likely answer would be the one with the biggest name.
In order to stop corrupt political dynasties, the voting of the wrong leaders
needs to stop. The fact that people are voting for the unqualified and that big names
mean more than skill to lead means that they need to know more about who they
are voting for. As citizens, we can inform people of who these people running for
office are and what they are capable of doing.
Another option is to sign petitions to stop political dynasties. Since the Anti-
Dynasty bill has not been passed, it is not illegal to have political dynasties. The
corruption in the Philippines has received so much attention that there are citizens
pointing to political dynasties as the root cause, putting up websites and Facebook
pages in order for people to sign petitions to stop it.

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