Going Outside the Box on Dynasties

How educated are Filipinos,
really?

One of the striking differences between American and Filipino politics is Filipino willingness to buy day old bread. Or even moldy bread infested with creatures

............................

I'd like to raise some ideas regarding dynasties. Two, to be specific:

Affirmative action

Recognizing the truth of the Philippines

Affirmative Action

"Affirmative action" is a term emerging from the U.S. during the 1970's and 80's as America tried to figure out how to solve the deeply engrained problem of racism.

The dilemma was that white America had locked out blacks because blacks could not get the education and qualifications they needed to rise into executive positions. The awareness of the problem eventually expanded to include all minorities.

The solution was new laws establishing a kind of "authorized reverse discrimination" requiring that colleges and large corporations establish goals to move a targeted percentage of minorities onto their student or employment rolls. Colleges and companies were required to open doors to minorities in an affirmative, pro-active way.

There were of course complaints. "It's unfair to whites." "You'll have to bring aboard unqualified people." Court challenge was undertaken and the court ruled that affirmative action was a legitimate tool to overcome prior negligence (racism) that was punitive to minorities. It was authorized as a legitimate policy to correct prior damages in order to "right the books".

And it did right the books. It was not done without friction, without occasional complaint or abuse, but it brought ethnic diversity to universities and to the workplace. It gave minorities a fair shot at high achievement. It reached its apex with President Obama's election in 2008. Today, minorities are highly visible in government and corporate executive suites. In the future, we will see minorities continue to rise to prominence in the U.S. as whites subside to their appropriate demographic levels.

If you look at dynasties in the Philippines, the situation is pretty much the same. The dynastic families have a lock on opportunity. They form an aristocratic class. They have a lock on the top jobs and the key legislative and executive positions. They rule the provinces and cities. It is hard for a person of good brains but no welcoming committee to break through. The dynastic leaders have better qualifications and better networks supporting them.

The solution currently being proposed is to restrict or outright ban dynasties. That's what the Constitution requires. But no implementing laws have been passed because it is such a complex and self-punishing job for leaders who belong to those dynasties. How can they be expected to end the favors that allow their sons and daughters to rise to success? So the Constitutional obligation has sat for 25 years in the "pending" file.

My thought is that perhaps it would be better to follow the logic of America's affirmative action laws. Forget about punishing the dynasty members outright. Don't take their jobs away. In the U.S., that would be like taking a white guy's job away and handing it to a black. Brutal.

Our President's family. These are good people.

But DO open avenues of opportunity for those not belonging to the aristocratic families.

REQUIRE that COMELEC candidate approval lists include 20% or more non-dynasty candidates in 2016. Up it to 30% in 2019 and increase it at 10% per election cycle until it is 80%. 

It will be necessary to define dynasty. If Congress can't do that, Humpty Dumpty would be happy to step in and supplant the cranial shortcomings of the Congress and their ample legal staffs.

The idea is to avoid punishing any specific dynasty person or family. Agreed, the competitive environment for available positions would tighten steadily. But that is a good thing, no? It would assure that the qualifying dynasty members are voted into office or appointed based on skill, not name.

When that nettlesome Constitutional obligation is fulfilled, then Congress can turn its attention to equal opportunity in the corporate marketplace to end nepotistic hiring by large businesses. To open channels of opportunity for talented Filipinos so that ambition and "to aspire" becomes a driving force for higher productivity in the Philippines.

Recognizing the Truth of the Philippines

This is a completely different take on the matter.

The subject arose during a brief exchange I had with Raissa Robles on her blog. In her article, she had cited the differences between U.S. and Chinese governmental structures and processes. Then brought in the Philippines. Here's the link to our exchange within the article thread. The remarks I made that are pertinent to dynasties are contained in the following excerpts from JoeAm:

• "The Philippines needs its own vision rather than a sottocopy of the US. But no one has articulated a clear vision unique to the island structure and family allegiances that are distinctive to the nation. Edgar Lores did a parsing on my blog of President Aquino’s SONA vs. President Obama’s victory speech. Dramatically different fundamentals, with Obama focused on liberty and hope – a softer almost spiritual orientation – while Aquino centered on achievements, corruption and practical matters. One was a dream, the other a check list."

• "What does the Philippines want to be when it grows up? I have no idea."

• ". . . the family/clan structure is so very different in the Philippines. Writing the response to you made me think that the Philippines should stop denying that it is a clan society, and structure its government to recognize it and leverage it as strength, rather than try to fit clans into a US style democracy. Far out thinking, I know. . ."

Why deny that the Philippines is what it is? It is a divided nation, geographically, with over 7,000 islands. The 114 dialects testifies to the cultural divisions as well. Then there are the clans, the families, the tribes. Most provinces and cities are controlled by dominant families. Those are facts. Imposing a vanilla U.S. style democratic ideal at the national level tends to deny the local power structures.

It ends up being  a mutation as dynastic forces and the trading of favors dominate democratic process. Ideals like free expression are shoved aside in favor of power plays.

Many of the local leaders, in U.S. terms, would be considered corrupt as they devise ways to apply government funds to assure staying in power. Vote buying, physical intimidation through private armies or local police, or directing project improvements to those areas that support candidates. In the Philippines, that is business as usual. Using government money to stay in office.

Within that framework of local power, does Philippine culture support U.S. style freedoms? No, not at all. Authority is pronounced. You don't hear leaders touting liberty and diversity. It isn't in the lexicon or national personality to welcome outspoken protest. Too threatening. You hear leaders touting obedience and the idea that citizens should cooperate and work hard to contribute. To give. Not take.

My natural inclination is to condemn such values. But what if I said:

• "No, wait a minute. Is there order? Is there peace? Are there rules everyone understands? Is there a framework for development?"

The answer is yes, yes, yes, and yes.

So my brain, deciding to skip from A to Z and forget G and M and other intermediates, wonders, what if the national government were not of the American style? What if it were of the Chinese or even Afghan style, a committee of clan leaders or warlords? What if provinces were re-aligned to FIT dynasties rather than dynasties slugging it out to claim provinces?

What if there were only one Congressional house, the Council of Elders, that sat as a Board of Directors to the nation to approve proposals from its appointed Chief Executive. Empowered to fire the Chief Executive if necessary. Empowered to approve laws drafted by Executive.

National elections would not be needed. Perhaps elections would be held in the province to endorse or contest the elder for that region. Or perhaps each province would operate as a little dictatorship and we could get rid of COMELEC and its impossible task of being judge and referee in a convoluted mutation of democracy. And sell all of those clunky machines.

It seems radical, no?

But at least we would eliminate the bastardized monstrosity of ineffectual democracy that exists now, in which tribal powers and authority run against the grain of democratic ideals. Sotto could pull his power within his province. Plagiarize, cheat, lie, even steal. If his provincial subjects are willing to put up with that, so be it.

At the national level, Sotto would have to tread lightly because there would be rules in place to deal with recalcitrant elders not willing to walk the national line. Like merge their province with a neighbor, or divide it up.

Conflicts would be resolved  as they are now in Mindanao. Localized. Powerfully. Killing is a wonderful enforcer.

And the Philippines would thrive.

Because we are fitting the government and the method to the madness, rather than trying to force the madness into democratic form.

Angry Maude Reports: Invasion of the Philippines

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Philippines Invaded!

Special Report Filed by Angry Maude

The Philippines suffered a stealth invasion overnight. Well, the invasion did not exactly take place overnight, but the Nation awoke and discovered itself invaded.

Rather like a woman awaking, rolling over, and finding herself face to face with some naked unwanted stranger, scruffy of beard, smelly of breath, and loud of snore right there on the pillow next to hers. Kinda makes you want to check out the body parts and wonder about the dream , you know?

But no matter how it happened, it was clear over the morning coffee, reading the morning blog, that the Philippines has been invaded. It is now occupied. Officially. Without question. Fo sho . . .

Strangers are in charge.

Normally we think of invaders as being from a different planet, or different country. A different place of geography.

But that is just a limitation in our thinking, rather like our thinking that history is a stepwise progression in time rather than a warp of space.  History is taking place instantaneously but on a magnificent spacial quantum twist of cohesion that we can only grasp iteratively. And if you can figure that sentence out, please send me a note, because I have no idea what I just said. Michael Crichton gets it, though, I'm confident.

Occupiers are distinguished, not by the land from which they emerged, but the by the control they exercise over the native man. Or woman. We are not gender biased here, no matter what my sisters think. We are occasionally inclined to use gender shortcuts, for the quickest point between two ideas is often a short word.

But I digress . . .

Christ this blog will never get written if my typewriter keeps running off at the lip . . .

We are occupied.

The invader

The invaders are the pampered patrons of dynastic privilege backed by the moneyed industrialists. This is a well-defined set of people, a unity, a community, a nation unto itself.

These creatures are chameleons of the body and public presentation  and are able to mold themselves into our likeness like a Roddenberry shape-shifter from Planet Xon. They look like us. Dress the same. Have the same language. And they talk the good word in that language, appealing to our historical pride in their father's deeds. Or mother's. Or great grand-aunt's, as long as the name is distinguished enough.

They are handsome or pretty, charming and intelligent. They smile and tell us of their good deeds. They get their 15 minutes of fame, generally once or twice a week.

But then they step away from the public podium of gracious bearing and they get down and dirty, down and privileged, down and powerful. They wave the law in front of our faces and say "obey" whilst running off to do as they please, where as they please means engorging their stomachs and wallets off the fat of a very thin nation. Nay, a starving nation.

Make no mistake. They are different. They are unified. And they are raping and pillaging.

You can tell they have something to hide because that's what they spend most of their time doing. They hide their money in secret bank accounts. They hide their deeds in public records kept from the public.  Getting SALN's out of them is like pulling teeth from a gorilla. They get their educations in foreign lands at strange places named Harvard and London School of Economics. They live behind gated walls with maids and servants and polished fast cars that haul them about while the rest of the nation is stuffed like crushed sardines in the back of a noisy, dirty, diesel-puffing jeepney.

They step ambitiously and assuredly upward along the path to fame, riches and power whilst the rest of the nation sticks in one place for a lifetime, monotonously jamming rice into the mud.

No, no. We are occupied.

Those people are "those people". They are different. They are not us.

They make the rules, and the rules favor them. The rules do not favor us.

If we open our yaps, the dungeon awaits. Senator Sotto represents the dark knight, a vivid  caricature, a hyper-sensitive ego engaged in sly, silky religious posturing that morphs into master and lord. He only lacks a horse and cape and "cue sound" for his thunderous, ominous approach, waving shouts of "libel!" as his mace. Like the armies of huns and mongols and invading turks, "suppression!" is his battle cry.

He seriously believes he has the correct definition of freedom of speech, and it is a lot more confined and confining than ours. Like, we get confined for 12 years if we open our yaps about the stench that emanates from the brains of the privileged.

The only thing that keeps the occupiers from hauling our bloomer bedecked derrieres off and flaying them is the internet and the knowledge that the entire world is watching. And they are trying to worm their way around that.

Two citizens visiting the Senate chambers . . .

Cybercrime Act my overlarge backside.

Citizen Oppression Act, libel enforcement of the internet built on the masterful illusion of caring for kids who are peddled for sex.

Clearly, legislators have learned from the Catholic Church. They've learned how to wield guilt and righteousness whilst avoiding the stigma attached to responsibility. Like responsibility for all the death and sickness and starvation in a nation the Church caretakes as moral custodians and the Legislature caretakes as legal custodians.

Who did it, I want to know. If not them, who?

The government recently hauled a 62 year old woman off to jail because she complained that miners were destroying the land and she ripped into the Mayor of her berg. The Sotto mentality got her. "Criticize the Mayor and learn your place, Woman!"

From the inside of a stinking cell.

They allow extra-judicial murderers to lie in wait like the biggest ugliest crocodile you can imagine. They don't cage the beast. They WANT it out there as a stark dark reminder to the common people that "you best not get out of line".

Fear is palpable in the Philippines. It is there every day. Lying, lurking. The knowledge that there are mean bastards with power here, and they know no limits. The alien monsters are drooling and snarling and they are in charge of this nation.

U-tube is the only thing keeping the Philippines from regressing directly back to the dark ages.

The soul of the occupiers is akin to that of Darth Vader. On some days you can hear the heavy breathing and swear it is enhanced by a borg machine behind the curtains pumping life and wisdom into a lifeless apparatus called Senate . . ..

Have you ever seen such a body of highly schooled people getting nothing done so magnificently? No RH Bill, no FOI Bill, no Divorce Bill, sitting on their SALN's. In the real world, among the commoners, they would call such achievement incompetence.

Here, it is just another day.

Because the Philippines is occupied.

And the occupiers play by their own rules. And they really don't give a box of bon bons about the natives. Except as to how they can be used to best advantage.

The proof is in their putrid, non-performing pudding, and their choice of acts that suppress over acts that open the government up to forthright inspection by the natives.

The Inquirer won't print the headline.

But you know, and I know, the nation is occupied.

Forget Anti-Dynasty Laws

Once again, JoeAm will swim upriver. 

• From the Humpty Dumpty New World Dictionary: scion (noun), a son or daughter, generally of a family that is well-off.

All you anti-dynasty mavens have it wrong. Y'all want to dump skilled people because they have the wrong name. You're are on a beeline to chaos and mediocrity.

Well, I don't believe that actually.

You pretty much have mediocrity now, and chaos, too, as Senators Enrile and Trillanes teeter at the edge of fisticuffs, as Madam Miriam punches out her bombastic oratory, never predictable, always loud, and as important legislation like RH and FOI languish as Constitutionally challenged cybercrime laws are punched through causing nationwide apoplexy amongst those who like to speak freely.

TG Guingona

 But lets reflect on what we are doing here, eh? Not get caught up in rising tides or flowing rivers or currents of hot air. Let's think about this before jumping on the "Down with Dynasties" bandwagon.

The new hero of the Anti-Cybercrime crowd is Senator TG Guingona, the only guy to vote against the Bill, to display independence and courage.  A hero at last!

But wait a moment! Wait. Wait. Alas, he's another Dynasty guy! His father was Vice President under Gloria Arroyo. TG had all the advantages of family name and connection.

He, too, is tainted by family name. By privilege.

Cut him off? Force him out? 

"Off with their heads!" demands the Queen of Puritan Values.

We Stipulate Your Honor . . .

First of all, the stipulations. Yes, the scions have advantages. They are the favored children of generations upon generations. They have the best education possible. They got the good developmental jobs on the way up. A path to success was laid out for them when they were toddling around in diapers wiping their grubby hands on the upholstery. Many have street signs in Manila. Nevermind that the streets are over-populated, congested with diesel spewing machines, polluted with plastic and things unmentionable, and run-down. The American Embassy is on Roxas Boulevard. Quezon has a whole city.

Angaras (Source: Inquirer)

These offspring also have connections, and those connections, in a political scene,  can become ties that bind. They can be puppet strings to the weak-willed. Without question Marcos, Jr. and Enrile, Jr. and Estrada, Jr. and Arroyo, Jr and Angara, Jr. and Binay, Jrette are appendages of their parents. As in any good mafia family, the stern, dogmatic Godfather does not brook rebellion from within. Do you think Arroyo, Jr. would ever cross his Mama?

But there is also no question that many of the scions are highly qualified and would receive just about any job they applied for. Face it, a regular Jose would have a hard time getting to Harvard for a sterling law education. Or to London School of Economics. Or the Naval Academy. Or get a partnership in a law firm. So it is hard for a regular Jose to argue that he is better qualified.

These are not points requiring debate. There are factual advantages to being from a name family. Stipulated.

Drawing Pictures

Let's for a moment hold America up as a successful pioneer of democracy. She became a productive giant, a nation of many ethnicities and religions bound harmoniously in tight-knit union committed to the Spirit America, and creating of wealth and happiness. Yes, you can condemn this American historical mistake or that, or this pushy international adventure or that, or this messy domestic episode or that, but if you look at the common measure of wealth and health for Americans, the nation has done well. The good far overwhelms the bad.

The U.S. does things very differently than the Philippines, and that is my point.

What are the core values that form Spirit America, this patriotic, well-principled ideal that hard work, creativity and candor can solve problems?

Let me draw two pictures for you. One American, the other Filipino.

• In one scene, we have a young man at his desk in a small office on the eight floor of a sizable corporation. He is well-dressed, about 35, fit and trim. He arrived at 7 a.m., slugged down a couple of cups of hot coffee, and is now crisply working his computer to speed-read the e-mails that came in overnight from overseas. He fires off some quick responses and categorizes the others for follow-up, A, B, or C depending on how quickly he has to attend to them. Next he will review the report for this morning's finance meeting, which he will lead on behalf of the senior executives in attendance. He relishes the opportunity to perform.

Mama Marcos

• In another scene, we have a middle-aged woman sitting at her desk in a large office on the ground floor of the Municipal Registrar's Office for a medium sized city. She arrived at her desk about 9:30, fresh from her shower and short commute in. She is well dressed but overweight. The three clerks were sitting about not doing much until she arrived. A young couple arrives to get their marriage certificate. She has them wait because she wants them to know she is important. She doesn't have that much to do, even though she is paid well and gets a little excess cash from the gratuities from the people she registers for this or that. She will take care of the couple soon, take care of some correspondence, and take a half-hour break at 10:30. She relishes going home in the evening to watch TV.

Okay, that is probably enough. You have the pictures, right? One is a highly motivated, upward-bound executive. The other is a complacent, well-pampered civic authority.

If these are opposite ends of a scale of productive performance, say scoring 1 for the registrar and 10 for the young exec, where would you place Philippine senators, as a body? And where would you put individual senators?

The entire Senate is closer to the registrar than the executive, right? Not working very hard. Not producing much in the way of meaningful output. Living fat and happy.

There is some variation among the individual senators, but most, also, do not cut a picture of a vibrant, hard-working executive.

Why is that?

And shouldn't we, as the "boss" of these people, expect something more?

It's Downright UnAmerican . . . er, UnFilipino. . .

Set that aside for a moment.

What is the essential value that make democracy work?

• Equal opportunity in the pursuit of a good life, liberty, and happiness.

Key words. Equal and opportunity.

Every individual is granted the same rights as every other individual. Neither race nor gender nor age nor religion nor FAMILY NAME shall be a basis for discrimination. The only basis for discrimination is ability to do the job.

A law that penalizes an individual for having the wrong name is unAmerican. And it ought to be unFilipino.

Ah, but you argue! The OPPORTUNITY is not equal. And I agree.

But I respond that we ought to fix that not by writing negative laws that discriminate and penalize, but by writing positive laws that open up government to new, talented, competitive blood.

The challenge before us is how to advance without going backward, how to progress without weakening the Philippine legislative capability by tossing out its best-trained people. The challenge is to make sure that: (a) the scions cut their ties to their parents and other influential forces, (b) non-scions get the same choice opportunities for schooling and jobs that the scions receive, and (c ) the Fifth Estate helps voters understand the difference between fame and competence.

The Positive Path:  Make Sure Junior Is Independent

This is the near-term fix, the way to avoid throwing the national baby out with the idealistic bath water, where the water is represented by the notion that "dynasties are inherently bad".  It requires putting public pressure on the well-qualified scions (or other relatives) to think for themselves.

• Demand an Oath of Public Trust for Relatives in Office. Make scions/relatives sign an oath that testifies that they will act independently, a clear statement of ethics when more than one family member holds elected office. Make sure they know they are being watched closely for independent acts. (This gives junior the justification to  disagree with Dad; he is not being disloyal to Dad, he is being loyal to his job and oath.) 

• Report on voting record and legislation penned, father and scion. These are good indicators of independence. The massive media here, the sensationalist entertainers, are not inclined to do this. But bloggers and investigative journalists are. Publicize the information.

We know that Sonny Angara is well aware of the need to separate from his father. He has stated this in public interviews. And the two came down very differently on the Cybercrime Law. Senior said it need not be amended. Junior said amendments would be acceptable. If he knows his future is tied to independence, and not papa's wishes, he'll act independently. It's called "growing up". And, for younger people where presidential doors have not slammed shut, it is called "ambition".

These scions are smart, wise enough and ambitious enough to display grown-up independence.

Don Quixote might be inclined to say "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." But his trusty sidekick Sancho Panza might wisely respond: "The apple can be carried far from where it falls."

The Positive Path: An Executive Development Program

This is the long-term fix. Pass a Leadership Development Act that does two things:

(1) Provide scholarships, top-college graduate school or law school enrollment endorsements, followed by challenging early-career jobs, for people tabbed as leadership-qualified based on undergraduate work. In other words, provide success paths for non-family members that are just as good as the family members get.

(2) Establish development and mentoring programs within agencies so that top caliber producers are recognized, energized, trained and promoted.

The best way to break the old nepotistic model is to construct a POSITIVE program to bring ambitious, competent people into government.

The Positive Path: The Fifth Estate

The problem in the Philippines is that families are "stars" and stars are held in high esteem by voters.  Many local stars become mega-stars when they hit the national scene. The entertainment-based media feed into this starstruck setting. They don't do the dull, boring work of rooting out people who work out of the limelight doing good work. So there is ZERO discovery of new talent.

The families run the star system, essentially.

Pass a positive law that requires candidates present both a detailed resume and a detailed platform, documents that allow people to see what has been accomplished in the past and what is promised for the future. Like SALN's, this document should be publicly available on line.

The Fifth Estate, the electronic force of blogging and social networking, has shown itself capable of influencing massive media, and the public, if they have information available that allows them to write intelligently.

This force is growing steadily stronger and only a fool would mess with it.

The Fifth Estate.  Checking and balancing.

Give them information. Intelligence is just a keystroke away.

Then we can encourage voters to make  their choices in a better, more informed way. 

Positively.

Anti-Political Dynasty Bills

Guest Article
by Edgar Lores

There is no lack of warnings to the dangers of political dynasties.  The Web is replete with articles on the subject.  These articles not only analyze the downside of dy-nasties with vigor and eloquence; some name the political family lines in every corner of the country.  The list is impressive, with illustrious lineages traced back several generations.

The 1987 Constitution is explicit, if meagre, in its innovative prohibition of the undemocratic nature of the problem.  Article II, Section 26 simply declares:

• The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.

This feature is innovative because it is the first time that political dynasties were recognized as a threat to democracy.  Yes, the prohibition was a knee-jerk reaction against the Marcos regime, and was designed to prevent a re-occurrence of a dictatorship.  But if the country does not have a one-man dictatorship presently, there is still a grave distortion to the Lincolnesque ideal of democracy.  What the country has now is a government of the few, by the few and for the few.

Ayala Family

The failure of the Constitution, it has been noted by many, is in its scantiness.  While it acknowledges the problem, it leaves the solution to Congress. The writers of the Constitution had sight, but little foresight.  As the composition of both houses of Congress has been, is now and will be largely oligarchic, there is little possibility of the passage of an enabling law.

It's a catch-22.

Currently there are two anti-political dynasty bills, one in the Senate authored by Miriam Defensor Santiago and another in the House of Representatives authored by Teodoro "Teddy" Casiño.  Both are in pending status or limbo - and are likely to remain there.

• Senate Bill No 2649 - An Act to Prohibit the Establishment of Political Dynasties

• House Bill No 3413 - An Act Prohibiting the Establishment of Political Dynasties

In both bills the definition of what constitutes a political dynasty is similar, almost word for word:

• Senate version: A political dynasty "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 elective 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 of consanguinity or affinity run simultaneously for elective public office within the same province even if neither is so related to an incumbent elective official."

• HOR version: A political dynasty "exists when a person who is the spouse of an incumbent elective official or a relative within the second civil degree of consanguinity or affinity if an incumbent elective official holds or runs for an elective office simultaneously with the incumbent elective official within the same city and / or province or occupies the same office immediately after the term of office of the incumbent elective official.  [New paragraph]  A political dynasty shall also be deemed to exist where two (2) or more persons who are spouses or are related within the second civil of consanguinity or affinity runs simultaneously for elective public office within the same city and / or province, even if neither is so related to an incumbent elective official."

Comparing the two versions, the one difference that immediately jumps out is in the area of geographical coverage.  The Senate version states "within the same province" while the HOR version has a wider interpretation in that it specifies "within the same city and / or province".

In this respect, both do not seem to go far enough.  Taking the wider Casiño version, the anti-dynasty bill appears to cover only elective positions of local government units within "city and / or province".  These positions would range from the medium unit of town officials up to the largest local unit of provincial officials.  It is noteworthy the bill specifically excludes the smallest of local government units, that of barangay officials.

The bill does not say anything about the positions of House representatives that are geographically based on city and provincial districts.  By implication, these positions would be caught in the net of prohibition.

It may be argued, however, that the net may not extend to non-geographical national elective positions like party-list representative, senator and indeed the presidency.  If true, these are sore deficiencies.

In the incoming 2013 general elections, there are several senatorial candidates who can be seen to belong to political dynasties:

• Alan Cayetano, a sitting senator up for re-election, has a sibling in the Senate whose term ends in 2016.  By the bye, the senator is the current chairman of the Senate Committee on Ethics and Privileges from which nary a whisper has been heard about another senator who unethically plagiarizes like there is no tomorrow.

• Juan Edgardo Angara, the representative for Aurora province, is the son of a sitting senator whose term ends in 2013.  Angara pere has reached the limit of two consecutive terms.

• Bam Aquino is a cousin of the President whose term ends in 2016.

• JV Ejercito, the representative for San Juan City, is the half-brother of the Senate President Pro-Tempore whose term extends to 2016.

• Jack Enrile, the Cagayan representative, is the namesake and son of the Senate President whose term also extends to 2016.

• Gwen Garcia, Cebu Governor, has two relatives in the House of Representatives - a brother and a father

.

• Cynthia Villar, a former representative, has a spouse in the Senate whose term ends in 2013.

A tandem of Cayetanos might have been acceptable, considering one of them has a pretty face.  But does the country really want double dosages of Enriles and Estradas?  Or a triple serving of Garcias?  Do you?

Political dynasties lie at the heart not only of the politics of patronage but also the politics of privilege. On one hand, the politics of patronage easily lends itself to the evils of nepotism, partiality to family, and cronyism, partiality to friends.  On the other hand, the politics of privilege lends itself to warlordism and oppression. It gives to its practitioners the sense of entitlement and impunity that, at its extreme, resulted in the Ampatuan massacre.

If the Philippines is an oligotheodemocracy as seen from the top-down, it is - from the bottom-up - an idiocracy.