Category: dynasty

the anti-binay show

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.

Casino democracy

By Edilberto C. de Jesus

The title I owe to Benedict Anderson, the eminent scholar of Southeast Asian history and politics. Studying the electoral landscape, Anderson described the Philippine system as “politics in a well-run casino.”

His starting point was the robust response to the first post-Marcos provincial and local elections in 1988. Of the 27.6 million eligible voters, 81 percent cast their ballots. Nearly 149,000 candidates competed for 16,500 elective positions, or an average of about nine candidates for each office on offer.

Read on…

didn’t vote

i had always voted, since the late 1960s when i came of age.

never voted for marcos, but he kept winning.  voted for cory in 86 but she was cheated and had to mount the huge protest that led to EDSA.  voted for salonga in 92 but fvr won.  voted for erap (how stupid of me) in 98 and he won but was edsa-ed.  voted for bro. eddie (he was talking alternative economics) in 2004 but arroyo won.  voted for jamby and her nationalist platform in 2010 but noynoy won.

kahit midterm elections, pinapatulan ko noon.  in may 2007, some months before i started blogging, i wrote Tipo kong iboto and sent it to everyone in my mailing list, including the inquirer.  all about voting on issues for a change.  economic issues, like the debt policy, e-vat, charter change, pork barrel.  wala rin.  once they won they forgot their promises, puro pangakong napako.

seeing no signs that it would be different this time, and praning over pcos, i didn’t vote na lang.  so yes wala akong kinalaman sa pagkakatalo ni jack enrile.  at wala akong kinalaman sa pagkakapanalo ni grace poe.  may kinalaman lang ako sa low turnout, well, lower than 2o10, na inaamin naman ni brillantes.

“junk the dynasts”

The case against political dynasties, after all, is very strong. First is the constitutional issue. Article II, Section 26 of the Constitution explicitly prohibits political dynasties. That Congress, as it provides, has not as yet defined what a political dynasty is by law shouldn’t matter to us voters. We should just use our own definition.

Second are the political issues—dynasties have made a mockery of the constitutional provision on term limits; dynasties and political warlordism go hand in hand (dynasts are the modern-day feudal lords).

And finally, there are the socioeconomic aspects: The empirical evidence clearly shows a significant relationship between political dynasties and lower per capita incomes, higher incidence of poverty, and lower human development indices (specifically, lower primary elementary completion rates) in their areas. If that isn’t disempowering and marginalizing, I don’t know what is.

Not to mention that members of political dynasties in Congress are wealthier (as evidenced by their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth) than their nondynast colleagues —which makes sense, because think of all the government resources that the combined efforts of dynasties can command. Dynasties do not go hand in hand with protecting public resources, reducing corruption, or complying with laws—which form part of the Ethics criteria in the MGG scorecard.

~ Winnie Monsod