It may be true that similar things happen in highly developed countries. But not to the very wide extent that we do. We have allowed political dynasties to be the norm, not the exception. Moreover, our social and economic settings and the scruples of local politicians are far different from those in developed countries.
listened to abby binay-campos on karen davila’s headstart. my smpathies go to jojo binay.
this is what dynasty has come to. abby says she worked so hard to do all the things she has accomplished for the city of makati, so it’s unfair that she’s being asked not to run for re-election, as in, paano na ang projects niya, something about a subway and free wifi, e baka di na matuloy, sayang naman.
crazy, right? para namang hindi niya kapatid ang ibig makabalik sa puwesto. bakit hindi itutuloy ni junjun ang mga project na nasimulan na kung para sa ikauunlad at ikaliligaya ng makati? iyan na nga mismo ang rationale, ang advantage, ng dynasty rule, di ba, yung built-in continuity ng leadership ng isang angkang nagkakaisa, with the good of their constituents in mind. but wait. heto naman si junjun, saying the same thing, gusto daw niya tapusin yung mga nasimulan niya na apparently ay hindi itinuloy ni abby. eh iyon naman pala.
life was simpler back when dad jejomar aka jojo, the original mayor binay, went national and became veep: the lines were clearly drawn, it seemed to me. jojo left the mayor’s seat to junjun, abby went to congress, and nancy made it to the senate. hati-hating kapatid, kumbaga. ang kaso, into his second term, sometime 2015, nakasuhan si junjun sa ombudsman at na-suspend; saglit nakaupong mayor si oppositionist vice mayor kid pena. noong 2016 elections, di pa puwede si junjun, dinidinig pa ang kaso, so si abby ang tumakbo in his place. kaysa mapunta sa iba, di ba. syempre, as with any dynasty, keep.it.in.the.family ang mantra.
perfect timing naman dahil kaga-graduate ni abby sa congress (one of two makati seats), three terms na, so ang asawang si luis campos ang tumakbo in her place, na nanalo siyempre. kumbaga, bonus na kay abby yung biglang run-for-mayor-and-win. ang problema ngayon, she’s enjoying herself much too much (and we can guess why) and simply doesn’t want to give it up / back to junjun now that junjun wants city hall back. she practically tells junjun to clear his name first (or something like that) before going back to public service. in a statement, meron pang:
… when she took over as mayor two years ago, Makati was “in a state of neglect and disorder… worse, dirty politics and shameless political patronage had taken their toll on basic social services.”
teka. the year before she took over was the year when acting mayor kid pena couldn’t get anything done because binay supporters in and out of city hall were forever blocking him on every front imaginable. dirty politics din iyon at dirty politics pa rin ang namamayani sa makati (like everywhere else), or at least that’s the maugong na chismis.
and now here’s junjun on headstart. hindi pala siya bilib sa subway project ni abby, cute and fancy, but is it viable? AND he reinforced some chismis i’ve been getting from three different grapevines about abby’s hubby who’s running for re-election sa congress, nag-e-enjoy din, I suppose, and abby doesn’t have the heart to ask for her seat back, pero si junjun kayang-kaya niya?
OR the chismis goes, okay lang kay campos na bumalik sa congress si abby but he wants to run for mayor in abby’s place? junjun does not say it in so many words but he certainly says a mouthful.
…my father doesn’t like him, may mga issues with him, may nga nagsasabi sa father ko na may sinasabi na hindi maganda tungkol sa family. … I’m sure he has his own ambitions. Isa yan sa naging isyu dun sa ground. Naging isyu yan… my brother in law. Meron siyang iba ring agenda eh. Which is, hindi namin gusto ang agenda niya, it wont be good for the city.
and yet jojo in his wisom has refused to rule, or even just remind, that city hall is junjun’s, congress is abby’s – the husband is abby’s problem. i’m still trying to figure out why.
sabi naman ni rene saguisag who was with jojo sa comelec.
The other day Mayor Abby Binay filed her CONA. The day before, JunJun, her brother, did. Normally, one may say that the Binays and the Estradas enjoy the paradise of pedigree, but not this time. How I wish they could find a way to reconcile, but a Prez Duterte, Mayor Duterte and Vice Mayor Duterte? https://www.manilatimes.net/cream-rises-and-values-dip/453983/
hard to sympathize with either binay or binay-campos. much easier to sympathize with the poor people of makati, and of davao, and poor people everywhere in this benighted land, who aren’t really being given a choice any longer, kept largely without options, caught in the cruel trap set by dynasties who mean to rule forever.
tony lopez rightly asks, what has been the impact of dynastic rule?
Is it a coincidence that the Philippines has one of the worst income equality ratios in the world, that it is the only major country that failed to solve its poverty after the entire world solved its poverty in 2015, that in ASEAN, it has the highest poverty incidence, the highest unemployment rate, the highest inflation rate, the highest interest rates, and the lowest level of foreign investments?
no coincidence. more like cause and effect. political dynasties enrich the dynasty at the expense of the masses. at the expense of democracy. which makes ours a poor and fake democracy.
it’s interesting, no, intriguing, that we are seeing quite a parade of witnesses who worked with/for the veep back when he was makati mayor now testifying against him in the senate probe. i wonder how much that’s costing whom. what ex-deals, trade-offs, quid pro quos, are being transacted behind the scenes. surely the binays are hurting, but is the veep going to blink and give up his 2016 run for the presidency? hmm, sana, lalo na’t type pala niya i-chacha ang economic provisions ng constitution, and who knows what else, argh. samantala, high na high naman ang tatlong senador na matatayog rin ang ambisyon, wheeee, nagbabaliktaran na! i suppose they think this is winning them pogi points, i mean, votes for whatever whenever, but really it is also evoking reactions like, eh pare-pareho lang naman sila, nakakainis, nagmamalinis! pro-chacha rin kaya? i may not see it in my lifetime, but i’m hoping that when next the pinoy public is made to watch a spectacle like this ay tunay nang malinis at kapita-pitagan ang senadong naghuhusga.