BEYOND THE BEND: Reject political dynasties now!

(MindaNews / 10 March) – Do not be fooled by the suggestion that a political dynasty is acceptable if it “serves the people.” This is utter rubbish. Political dynasties are inherently undemocratic and therefore can never be normalized. Once in office, dynastic politicians instinctively work to keep their family in power. Part of their modus operandi is to enrich themselves by profiting from the hard-earned contributions of taxpayers. If Jose Rizal were alive today, he would describe political dynasties as the “social cancer” of our day.

A political dynasty is commonly understood as a family with multiple members holding different public posts. Some have nuanced this understanding by proffering the notion of “political legacy” or members merely succeeding one another. Presumably, this subset would distinguish candidates such as Bam Aquino and Chel Diokno from the widely accepted category of “fat dynasty” to which many of the political dynasties today belong.

Alarmingly, more and more elected officials today are working towards building their own dynasty. The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism published a series of articles about this very matter, one of which showed how political dynasties are now fielding even more members to vie for public office. Another article illustrated how the party-list system, original intended to be a pathway for non-traditional political groups, is now dominated by political dynasties as well.

Voters need to be reminded of this foundational principle in the 1987 Constitution, Article II, Section 1: “The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority emanates from them.”

The domination of political dynasties over politics and governance has robbed us of this innate constitutional power. These mega dynasties unapologetically spit on our proud democratic legacy. Reclaiming both is imperative. Just this May, voters ought to consider choosing non-dynastic candidates only. They should just automatically reject dynastic candidates!

Just this May, voters should give non-dynastic politicians a chance to show they can be an improvement from the crap that gets elected every election. Take a chance just this May. No commitment as far as other elections are concerned. Let that be a matter for another day. But this May, let it be about reclaiming power over politics and governance by rejecting political dynasties at the polls.

Consider for instance the senatorial election. 13 out of 66 senatorial candidates are dynastic. Reject them outright! Arguably, around 9-10 names can also be disqualified for being too close to dynasties like most of the PDP-Laban slate, Willy Revillame, and Kiko Pangilinan. That leaves about 43 non-dynastic candidates to choose from. Voters should seriously consider intellectual heavyweights like Luke Espiritu and Heidi Mendoza.

Realistically, this proposition might be harder to apply at the local level. Local elections have been reduced to a contest between Dynasty A vs Dynasty B vs Dynasty C. Not surprisingly, this lack of genuine electoral competition has generated a profound sense of helplessness amongst the polity. “Wala na bang iba?” is the question many folks are asking. Answering it, however, will require more than just being active come election time.

At the local level, the best that voters can do this May is to stop thinking and behaving like political spectators and passive recipients of ayuda. This is the best time to accept the fact that citizens have a stake in ensuring the government stays true and right. Dynastic politicians in government will abuse their post if they are left to their own devices after the election. The people must adopt an unforgiving mentality and this must be displayed from the campaign period to the next election.

A country of 120 million must not accept being governed by just a few families. A nation borne from revolting against colonial rule and against tyranny cannot just concede democracy to a select wealthy ruling class.  We simply cannot allow mega political dynasties to lord over politics and governance. Voters must now fight back. Reject dynastic candidates this May!

(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. Michael Henry Yusingco, LL.M is a law lecturer, policy analyst and constitutionalist.)