Since the advent of a new leadership and political order following the first People Power Revolt of 1986, there have been constant calls for the dismantling of the political oligarchy that has ruled the Philippines from the time the republic was born.

With every election, it seemed as if the same names were voted into office. Sons or daughters would follow in the footsteps of their fathers or mothers who had gotten too old to handle the pressures of political office. In some cases, when the children of entrenched politicians had no interest in taking over, their brothers, sisters, nephews, nieces or grandchildren were the ones presented to the electorate as the next generation of public servants from the family.

Political dynasties proved to be the rule rather than the exception in the country, and it would start at the very top. Behold most of the presidents of the Republic after the transitional Commonwealth of the Philippines, and what do we see? Close relatives of just about every president would find their way to elected office, usually in the home provinces of the chief executives.

President Manuel Roxas had a son who became senator and would have aspired for the presidency had fate not intervened via the declaration of martial law.

The Magsaysay family has held sway in Zambales decades after the death of the popular President Ramon Magsaysay. Happily, the Guy’s son, who became Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., proved to be a most competent lawmaker and a politician as honest and worthy of respect as his father.

In the decades that followed, children of Presidents Diosdado Macapagal, Ferdinand Marcos, Corazon Aquino and Joseph Estrada became senators, with two becoming presidents themselves.

Today, a grandson of Roxas is a Cabinet secretary while former senator Magsaysay is bidding to return to the Senate.

It may therefore be argued that political dynasties have become an accepted fact of life in the Philippine body politic, but this does not make it morally right. Besides, national figures such as presidents become household names, making it easy for their kin to run for national office themselves. It is for this reason that the Philippine Senate is filled to overflowing with members of political dynasties.

The Philippine Constitution is very clear. Article 2, Section 26 states that “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

And here is where a very serious problem lies.

There is no legal definition of what political dynasties are, although any reasonably intelligent person knows what they are.

Congress should pass the enabling law that would make the constitutional ban on political dynasties enforceable. But no one expects the House of Representatives or the Senate to craft a law that would prevent most of their own members from being elected.

Since 1987, there have been calls for the passing of an Anti-Dynasty Law. All those calls have fallen on deaf ears.

A few days ago, Commission on Elections Chairman Sixto Brillantes said that it was up to the people to remove members of political dynasties by voting them out of office (if they are incumbents) or not voting for them at all.

This sounds good in theory, but is not possible in fact.
 
‘Let the people decide’
Candidates who come from politically entrenched families will say the same thing again and again: “Let the people decide.” This is the worst possible excuse. How, we ask, can the people decide when they are left with no choice?

More often than not, it is a member of a political dynasty against a member of another political dynasty. In some cases, the powerful families take turns at the helm of a province, city or town, or as members of the House.

Left on the outside looking in are countless poor but deserving candidates whose biggest shortcoming is that they do not belong to any dynasty.

At times, it would seem that the men and women running for public office who are members of dynasties are not Filipinos. At least, they do not display the very Filipino trait of “delicadeza.”

They perceive themselves as being entitled to public office, even if they have no qualifications to speak of.

Worst of all, they have no qualms in burying better-qualified opponents by heavily outspending them, and using the old formula of guns, goons and gold.

Next year’s midterm elections will be no different. A mere glimpse at the names of the candidates for national office reveals that there is a high percentage persons who come from traditional political families.

This is not to say that the dynasties do not occasionally produce outstanding leaders. In a lot of cases, the new batch of politicians emanating from dynasties have been trained to handle public office.

All this is well and good, but for as long as dynasties are allowed to hold sway, the Philippines cannot claim to be moving towards political maturity. Unfortunately, when oligarchs rule a country, as what is happening now, even economic growth is stunted.