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HOW (NOT TO)BREAK POLITICALDYNASTIES

DARON ACEMOGLU AND JAMES ROBINSON

In theprevious postwe documented some facts about the politicaldynasties of the Philippines. Our discussion of the Marcos regimefurther showed that ranting and doing next to nothing aboutthe problems of oligarchs and political dynasties has a longhistory in the Philippines. After 1986 and the return to democracythe 1987 Philippine Constitution introduced various changesaimed at decreasing the power of political dynasties. Forexample, Article II, Section 26 of the Constitution included aclause stating:

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

However, after 25 years, a dynasty-controlled congress has failedto pass legislation providing a definition of political dynasty, sothis constitutional ban remains vacuous. Most importantly, the

1987 Constitution introduced term limits for all elected offices.Senators can only be elected to two consecutive 6-year termswhile congressmen, governors and all other local officials canonly be elected to three consecutive 3-year terms. Some politicalanalysts and scholars were optimistic that these constitutionalprovisions would open the political system to greater competition.For example, Alfred McCoy, in his bookAn Anarchy ofFamilies stated:

Aquinos Constitutional Commission adopted articles designed tobreak, for all time, the influence of political dynasties through bothuniversal term limits and a specific prohibition on relatives ()holding any public office.
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Other scholars argue that term limits, de facto, rob the electorateof a meaningful say in who does and does not belong in office.

But did term limits really have the effect of removing the power of

dynasties over politics in the Philippines? This question wasinvestigated by Pablo Querubn in his paper Political Reform andElite Persistence: Term Limits and Political Dynasties in thePhilippines. Though the idea that term limits can break dynastiesis at first appealing, when you think about it, youll realize that itmight in ractice encounter problems. Rememberwe pointedoutthat in many provinces there was a governor and congress-person from the same family. Maybe if they both faced term limitsthey could just switch jobs? In fact, that is exactly what happenedin many cases. For example, in the province of Camiguin thecongressman Pedro Romualdo faced a term limit in 1998 afterserving for 3 consecutive terms. In response he successfully ranfor governor while his son Jurdin Romualdo took his seat incongress. After both served three consecutive terms in their newpositions, they swapped. In 2007 Pedro went back to beingcongressman, while Jurdin became governor. In Camiguin, notonly did the term limits not stop dynastic control, they brought

another member of the family into politics who might nototherwise have been there.

As Pablo Querubn shows, this Alternating Offices strategy isnot the only response that dynasties have formulated to deal with
https://sites.google.com/site/pabloquerubin/researchhttps://sites.google.com/site/pabloquerubin/researchhttps://sites.google.com/site/pabloquerubin/researchhttps://sites.google.com/site/pabloquerubin/researchhttp://whynationsfail.com/blog/2013/1/9/political-dynasties-in-the-philippines.htmlhttp://whynationsfail.com/blog/2013/1/9/political-dynasties-in-the-philippines.htmlhttp://whynationsfail.com/blog/2013/1/9/political-dynasties-in-the-philippines.htmlhttp://whynationsfail.com/blog/2013/1/9/political-dynasties-in-the-philippines.htmlhttp://whynationsfail.com/blog/2013/1/9/political-dynasties-in-the-philippines.htmlhttp://whynationsfail.com/blog/2013/1/9/political-dynasties-in-the-philippines.htmlhttps://sites.google.com/site/pabloquerubin/researchhttps://sites.google.com/site/pabloquerubin/researchhttps://sites.google.com/site/pabloquerubin/research


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term limits. Another is the Benchwarmer strategy. In Cebu City,for example, when Antonio Cuenco faced a congressional termlimit in 1998, his wife Nancy Cuenco took over for one term. In2001 Antonio was back as congressman.

Term limits are inducing dynasties to bring new members intopolitics also seems common. Take the situation in Bukidnonprovince. In 1998 the sitting congressman Jose Zubiri Jr. faced aterm limit. He was replaced by his son Juan. Jose switched to

Governor in 2001. When Juan hit a term limit in 2007, he switchedto the Senate and was replaced by his younger brother JoseZubiri III. In 2010 Jose senior faced a term limit as Governor butwhat could he do with his two sons in the Senate and Congressand not yet term limited? No problem, he successfully ran for viceGovernor.


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An interesting feature of the political system in the Philippines isthat people have no problem in running for lesser offices after

they have been term limited. In Davao City, for example, crimebusting mayor Rodrigo Duterte was term limited in 2010. Heswitched to vice Mayor and was replaced as Mayor by hisdaughter Sarah.

Are these isolated examples or do they represent the generalpattern? In fact what Pablo Querubns research shows is thatterm limits in the Philippines did not influence the probability that

the same family controls a particular political office: if in oneperiod a particular family was Governor, the fact that there was aterm limit for Governor had no impact to the probability that theGovernor in the future would be from that family, relative to theprevious regime without term limits.

So much for easy solutions for breaking the power of politicaldynasties

Political Dynasties in the Philippines: In MyOpinionWednesday, November 21, 2012

Next years Philippine midterm elections are fast approaching and it paintsan all too-familiar image once again: candidates that are either re-


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electionists or relatives of political families running for available seats.

For decades, talk regarding political offshoots has been going on fordecades. And after decades and decades of botched attempt on clearlydefining what a political dynasty is, this predicament led me to ask: Is thissomething permissible, alarming, or should it be accepted as part of theFilipino political culture?

Political dynasties usually crop up from a good forerunner who is loved byhis or her constituents. After the forerunners term, it is then passed on toother members of the family reminiscent of empires where there is asuccession of hereditary rulers. While this trend is not unique to Philippinepolitics, this phenomenon is widely evident in this democracy of ours.Flicking through the list of the senatoriables and other aspiring politicians

would let you know what I mean.

Checking out our countrys fundamental law, the Constitution gives us lightregarding this matter. Article II, Section 26 states that: The state shallguarantee equal access to public service and prohibit political dynasty asmay be defined by law. [emphasis supplied].

A much less skill in statutory construction is needed to infer the provisionsgist: The clear intent of the framers of the Constitution is to prohibit politicaldynasties and it is the duty of our law-making bodies to define the same.The Congress is given the discretion in defining political dynasty but not thediscretion on when to enact the same. Various anti-political dynasty billswere introduced in the Congress time and again but those were simply setaside and forgotten to be pushed through. We still dont have enabling lawsup to this point that prohibit individuals from the same family or clan to runfor an elective position despite the explicit clamor of charter.

On the other hand, pro-political dynasties (apparently composed of peoplefrom those political families) contend that it is not about the number of

politicians from the same clan but their integrity and track record in publicservice. It would be better to have a family of politicians in the governmentwith clean track record than a single government official who is so corrupt,says Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, in an AksyonTV interview. It would bewrong or unfair for them to say that they are against all dynasties, he adds.The son of the former statesman Renator Cayetano has a point. His sister,Senator Pia Cayetano would also concede, I suppose.


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Name recall is the name of the game for the political pedigrees. Peoplevote those people who they already know and backed by the resources ofan outgoing family member, chances of losing in the political race are slim.Dynasties do not level the political playing field and concentrate politicalpower among few political heads. Political dynasty drags our country downbecause politicians will protect and prioritize their own family interests. Thepublic interest becomes a distant next.

In order to win, a lot of means are employed to secure the elective posts.The use of violence and overspending are just two of the strategies mostpolitical empires utilize. This legal loophole allowed most of these powerfulfamilies to abuse their authority and waylay a localitys resources.

Well, you may ask how the party-list system is faring. Party-lists, thatsystem of proportional representation in which voters choose amongparties representating marginalized sectors, should help offset the dynasty-dominated Congress but they dont. Instead of counter-acting with the evilsof the political dynasties, the party-lists became another avenue for thoseformer politicians to serve for life. We rarely see people from the farmingsector, the fisheries sector, the laborers, or from the teachers; we insteadsee leaders from same political families.

A careful scrutiny of the political parties would help us understand thatdemocracy is absent in these political parties. The center of our parties areleaders coming from political families themselves. Clearly, electoral andpolitical party reforms are needed. We need a wiser electorate that wouldrevolutionize the landscape of Philippine politics coupled with the guidanceof our statutes.

But at the end of the day, it is ultimately the Filipino people who will decideif they will deem certain families as simply political dynasties or familieswith a legacy of public service. Still, the coming elections are reflections of

the cultural value of close family ties as evidenced by their politicalfamily reunions.

Viewpoints


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personal views and commentaries

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Again and again: Political DynastyObserving Our Political Context, the Second Plenary Council ofPhilippines (PCP-II) a singular month-ling and lived-in meetingof no less than some 354 lay leaders, sisters, priests, andbishops, representing the Church in Luzon, Visayas, andMindanao and held on January-February 1991 made thefollowing quite revealing official pronouncement:

Power and control are elitist, lopsidedly concentrated onestablished families that tend to perpetuate themselves in politicaldynasties. (PCP II, Acts and Decrees, n. 24)

To better appreciate the significance of the above cited rathertelling and pointed pronouncement, it is in order to make thefollowing more relevant observations: Once, that the PhilippineConstitution prohibiting political dynasty, was enacted in 1986.Two, that the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines was held

on 1991. Three, that the reality of political dynasties in thePhilippines has in fact become even more factual and prevalent inthe country as of this writing in the year 2012.

Among the many rather disturbing and wherefore discomfortingconclusions that can be readily drawn from the abovephenomenon are the following: The People of the Philippineshave been basically under the command and pursuant control ofpolitically powerful families long since. The Constitution of the

Philippines has but a beautifully worded provision against politicaldynasties. The past and present administrations since the ousterof the Martial Law Regime have managed not merely to allow butalso foment the reign of more and more dynastic politicians.

And whereas Philippine politics is inexorably identified with thetenure, preservation and promotion of wealth, PCP-II therefore


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also noted: The poverty and destitution of the great mass of ourpeople are only too evident, contrasting sharply with the wealthand luxury of relatively few families, the elite top of or socialpyramid. (Ibid.) This is not really a condemnation but merely a

statement of fact. The same however is certainly an ardent call toa proper and just resolution of the intimate pairing of politics andwealth.

There are certain truly crusading politicians who know theproblem, who know the solution, and who are trying to undo thepredicament. Somehow, they are taking the right steps in order todo away with political dynasties. But somehow as well, the fewwell-entrenched political dynasties have managed to block everyattempt and more to neutralize them.

When oh when will dynastic politics disappear from the Philippinescene? What will the people of the Philippines have to do andwhen will they do it?

A civil society dynasty to fight politicaldynastiesByVERA Files|The Inbox Sat, Dec 8, 2012

By Jonathan de Santos,VERA Files

It has taken Congress a quarter of a century to craft a law that will make theConstitutional ban on political dynasties real, but Fr. Leo Casas, candidatefor governor of Masbate province, says citizens are not powerless againstpolitical clans that dominate politics.

At a forum on political dynasties at the Ateneo de Manila University on

Friday, he said greater citizens' involvement can counter powerful politicalclans. "We can fight money with volunteerism and a sense of sacrifice," thepriest said.

"We can fight dynasties with a civil society 'dynasty,'" he said, stressing thatan "active and vigilant" society can prompt change in local politics.
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Already, he said, his political opponents have been forced to reach out tosectors that would otherwise have been ignored. "Lumalapit na sila sakabataan, estudyante at kababaihan kasi may mga supporters tayodoon (They are reaching out to the youth, students, and women because he

have supporters there)," he said.Camarines Sur race

Lawyer Leni Robredo of Camarines

SurLawyer Leni Robredo, widow of the late Local Government SecretaryJesse Robredo and a candidate for a seat at the House of Representatives,told the forum that her opponent has also been reaching out to women inthe Third District of Camarines Sur, whom she organized herself.

She said, however, that politicians engaging marginalized sectors to court

votes does not always mean a change in the political system.

Supporters of Nelly Favis-Villafuerte, her opponent and wife of incumbentCamarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte Sr., have gotten in touch with women'sgroups she has organized to offer money and groceries in exchange forregistering with Villafuerte's team instead, Robredo said.

Local politics in her district has remained based on patronage, she said,with voters supporting candidates based on utang na loob (debt ofgratitude) and for short-term benefits. She said that in one of the barangays

she has visited, students have to miss classes when it rains because theycan't cross flooded creeks.

"Pinuntahan namin, tapos madali lang naman lagyan ng footbridgedoon, pero hindi nilalagyan kasi kaunti lang ang botante (It would have

been easy to put up a foot bridge but there are few voters in that area)," shesaid.
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Instead, voters are sometimes won over by gifts of apples and money,Robredo said. She said she has been trying to talk to communities toexplain the importance of choosing leaders who will bring development toher district.

Aside from Naga City, she said there is hardly any business in the seventowns in the Third District, and on average, 90 percent of the towns' fundscome from their share of the country's internal revenue.

A better-organized citizenry could change that, she said. "With more peopleengaged in governance, politicians will be on their toes," she explained.

Joy Aceron, program director for the Political Democracy and Reform(Poder) program of the Ateneo School of Government, said goodgovernance has to be more than just about fielding alternative candidates,

although that is important too.

During election season, people tend to forget fundamental problems in thepolitical system where the "same people are winning elections," she said.

"Engagement in politics should not end at elections," she said.

Uphill battle

But even just running against a political dynasty is hard enough.

Robredo said most voters in her area do not care if their politicians all comefrom the same family. Although her husband's death in a plane crash in

August put her in the national spotlight, this will not necessarily translateto votes either. "It's really different on the local level," she said.

Casas, meanwhile, admits he was a "witness and a victim" of local politics inMasbate, and that he has even consented to it for more than three decades

by not doing anything about it.

Even before the official campaign period starts, Casas said he has alreadyreceived threatening text messages and one of his volunteers has already

been killed.

In contrast, he said, "Ang political armyko lang ay ang (The only politicalarmy I have is the) Catholic Women's League."


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Abra's Bernardina JosonFor BernadinaJoson, a mayoral candidate in Lagayan, Abra, things are worse still. "Kapagsinasabing Abra, tatak na namin ay 'Killing Fields' sa North," she said atthe same forum. She said people who oppose local political families are

often killed.

She said, though, that people in her town are desperate for an alternativecandidate they can support. "Buhay pa naman ako (I am still alive)," shesaid.

Joson, a government auditor who had filed a plunder case against membersof the Luna clan in public office, said she is running to be a voice for herpeople because "those whose mouths are shut with fear have plenty to tell."

Among those, she said, are complaints against the lack of development in

the town.

"Twenty six years is too long to convert a rough road to a concreted one.Too long to turn carabaos (as transportation) into jeepneys," she said.

No legal prohibition on political dynasties

At the forum, Elections Commissioner Rene Sarmiento gave a presentationon how government can curb political dynasties. Reaching a mostly blankslide on his slide show, he said, "Ayan na po (that's it)."

Aside from the prohibition against political dynasties in the 1987Constitution, a a prohibition that has yet to be operationalized, there isnothing to keep families from monopolizing political power.

Sarmiento said term limits do little since these are what prompt politiciansto ask their relatives to run for the same position. He added the party-list
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system is now being threatened by the appearance of groups with nomineescoming from just one family.

Sarmiento and the Commission on Elections has been trying weed out thesegroups. "Nakakabahala. Nakakatakot(This is worrisome and scary)," he

said.

He added political clans might soon use seats in local government reservedfor sectoral representatives as another way to consolidate power.

Although the Comelec's hands are tied against political dynasties untilCongress passes a law defining them, Sarmiento said citizens can help makethe distribution of power less unfair: They can support candidates withgood visions and platforms of government and also push for passage oflegislative initiatives that will reform the political system.

Proposed reforms

Among those are the "anti-epal" bills filed in Congress. The bills, if passed,will prohibit the use of government projects as billboards andadvertisements for politicians and will require prospective candidates to filea Certificate of Intent to Run for Public Office six months before the filingof certificates of candidacy. After formalizing their intent to run,prospective candidates will be barred from appearing on media for self-promotion.

Another bill is the Political Party Development bill filed by Sen. EdgardoAngara seeking to institutionalize political parties by requiring nominees tobe chosen according to a merit system. The bill also penalizes political"turncoatism," with politicians who switch parties losing their office andtheir right to run in the next elections.

In a press statement in October, Angara said that under the currentpolitical system "political parties end up focusing on individuals rather thanshared ideals or policy prescriptions."

Sarmiento added it is time for Congress to pass a law to define politicaldynasties. If it doesn't, however, he said an avenue left for citizens is in theform of a people's initiative.

The Initiative and Referendum Act of 1989 recognizes the power of thepeople to "directly propose, enact, approve or reject, in whole or in part, the


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Constitution, laws, ordinances, or resolutions passed by any legislativebody."

Ang Kapatiran Party will seek to do just that next year, representatives ofthe party said at the forum. If it can gather verified signatures from 10

percent of the total number of registered voters, with at least 3 percent ofthe voters from each district, the Comelec will be duty bound to hold areferendum on the proposed law.

If it gets support from a majority of voters during the referendum, itbecomes a law.

Norman Cabrera, party secretary-general, said on Ang Kapatiran's websitethat citizens have a right to take action when the legislature does not.

"What Filipinos need to do is to exercise this right, to make this law workfor them, and to take affirmative action where Congress has failed, then,now and in the future," he said.

(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look atcurrent issues. VERA is Latin for "true.")

October 10, 2012 Posted in: 2013 Elections, General, Videocasts

Political clans, not partiesbuilding blocks of PH politicsWe have come to the conclusion that political clans, and not political parties, have been

the building blocks of Philippine electoral politics.
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With this statement, De La Salle professor Dr. Julio Teehankee opened the second leg of

the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalisms election coverage seminars entitled

Covering the 2013 elections: Uncovering campaign finance, local power, and

governance at the Bayview Hotel in Manila.

Dr. Teehankee, an associate professor of comparative politics and internationaldevelopment at the DLSU, was invited to talk to 20 reporters, editors, producers, and

bloggers on the continued hold of political clans in the Philippines over the last three

centuries.

There are clans that have been in power for three centuries, or since the time of the

Spanish colonial period, Teehankee said. What we have in this country are not really

political parties. Political parties just change names, but the political clans, they remain

the same.

Teehankee cited the study of Dr. Temario Rivera on political clans, which showed that 94

percent of the provinces in the Philippines have political dynasties. (The average

number of political families is 2.31 for every given province.) There are an estimated

178 political clans in the country, 56 percent of which are considered old families in

politics, while 44 percent are newcomers to the world of dynasty building.

Teehankee said there are several reasons for the proliferation of political dynasties in the

Philippines; much it has to do with the countrys colonial history.

For example, Teehankee pointed out that local autonomy preceded central authority,

meaning colonizers selected local elites to govern their communities in behalf of the

colonizers even before a central authority was set up. The result was that these

influential families were empowered even before an administrative bureaucracy was set

up.As well, these influential families were used to funnel patronage to select recipients,

further strengthening their positions in power.

The electoral process was also institutionalized long before the bureaucracy was set up.

There is no professional civil service, Teehankee said. In other countries, even if

elections or politics are wild and wooly, but you have a professional bureaucracy and

civil service, your system is assured that things will run regularly because they are

insulated from politics.

Here, elections happened first, so the power brokers began raiding the bureaucracy for

patronage and whatever resources they can use during election time. he said.Teehankee also pointed to the peculiarities of the political dynasties in the country.

Winners are usually the best at generating funds from the central government.

Winners are those who control major economic activities in the community, both legal

and illegal

A highly centralized administrative bureaucracy is juxtaposed with weak political

institutions


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Winners tend to centralize patronage resources rather than centralize the administrative

structures

Interestingly, the imposition of term limits, originally meant to discourage political

dynasties, instead ended up encouraging them. Senators are may be elected for two

consecutive terms of six years each, which congressmen and local officials may beelected for three consecutive terms of three years each.

The term limits were placed to level the playing field, Teehankee said. If you put a

cap, the framers of the law thought, you open up the system to newer faces.

But what happened? It just served as an incentive for political dynasties to sit back and

let their children and relatives take over, he said. So instead of stopping or halting

political dynasties, it led to an increase in the number of dynasties. It introduced another

pathway to power for local clans.

Teehanhee said there are already proposals in Congress that could help in discouraging

these political dynasties. These include legislation to strengthen political parties, and the

anti dynasty bill.

For example, Teehankee said people should be open to the idea of public funding for

political parties, as proposed by the political party reform bill. While it may appear

counterintuitive for Filipinos to agree to fund political parties, this may in fact be the

best way to level the playing field, and make political parties more beholden and

answerable to the public instead of to private donors.

It would however be up to the citizenry to pressure their legislators to act on these

measures that do not seem very popular in Congress. For example, the anti-dynasty bill

has been in Congress since 1987, yet it has never gotten past first reading simply

because Congress is, on the large part, made up of dynasties.

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