If you are wondering why the Philippine government remains as one the most corrupt in the world, then you have to go back and look at our country’s history.
During the Spanish period, the Filipino people’s role in government was verily limited. The highest rank that a Filipino could attain then was simply a gobernadorcillo, or the town mayor, whose role was also limited mostly to mobilizing the local populace for polo y servicios – or forced labor.
The cabeza de barangay (barangay captain) was also given a menial task of collecting taxes or tributes.
Both the gobernadorcillo and cabeza de barangay were exempted from paying tributes, and doing forced labor. It was also expected from them to do their duty effectively, and collect the necessary amount of tributes for the central government – failure to do so would lead to imprisonment. Thus, the cabeza de barangay would often collect surpluses; it was better to exceed, than to fall short.
That time, not any Filipino can just decide to run for office; and the local populace did not necessarily elect him to power.
The process of selecting the gobernadorcillo involved 12 senior cabeza de barangay who had to nominate three candidates from among themselves. The authority to choose the winner will either be the central government (governor general) or in some cases, the governor of the province.
When the Americans arrived and colonized us, they somehow changed the system, and gave these political elites more power and influence in government, with the main intent of gaining their trust and confidence.
Well, to put it bluntly, the Americans wanted something in return from them since they cannot fully control the Philippines – it would be financially impossible for them to send American officials to the Philippines; so to compensate for this, they had to entrust it to the Filipino people (mostly political elites), and sugarcoat it as a form of benevolent assimilation.
Michael Culinane wrote that “it was becoming painfully clear that the selection or rejection of most local political leaders was not determined by American standards; loyalty to candidates and officials was not always based on ‘honest and efficient’ government, but more on social and economic relationships between the leaders and their followers.”
The Americans, therefore, consciously entrusted the government to Filipino political elites at the expense of a clean, incorruptible, and efficient government.
To make matters worse, there were no term limits for local government officials during the American period – so they could stay in power for as long as they wanted to.
This might be the reason why some of them remained confident, and were not so concerned in establishing political dynasties, unlike today.
There was no doubt that the early American colonial officials – like William Howard Taft – were cognizant about the corruptibility of the Filipino people; but then again, they needed something from them – so something had to give, or compromises must be made.
Unfortunately, the compromise made left an indelible mark in Philippine politics. As they say, the rest is history.
At present, many of our politicians have not really learned from the mistakes of the past; in fact, they have learned to repeat the same mistakes of the past to serve their own interests.
They have, somehow, turned a blind eye from the lessons of history. I believe it is unfair to generalize, but I do not know if any educated Filipino can give me a name of an incorruptible politician whether at the local or national level. There might be a few rare instances where they can name some, but 99 percent of our politicians will not fit into that category of being incorruptible.
Well, they promise to be incorruptible during election time, but they will most certainly revert back to their old ways after the elections – after they have achieved what they wanted to achieve.
Others argue, albeit wrongfully, that political dynasties are not necessarily immoral as long as they (the political elites) continue to serve and help the people.
I believe it was former President Duterte who said that his family were just “forced” to serve Davao City as that was “what the Davaoeños asked for”. Furthermore, he said that if politicians “deliver” or serve the people right, then it will almost always result to dynasties.
Duterte’s arguments, however, seem like specious justifications to preserve their power and influence over the people. There is power, money, and influence in politics – all these desirable things that these political elites want; thus, they invariably have to justify why they should remain in power.
Unfortunately, perhaps the best solution to end political dynasties – i.e., the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill – will never materialize as it will have to go through Congress – whose members mostly belong to political families – to be approved.
So we should not even put our hopes on that. What we can hope for, however, is for the youth – the students from universities – to start playing a more active role in politics, and to develop a strong moral compass.
They should be able to distinguish what is right from wrong; in doing so, they would refrain from voting for politicians belonging to political dynasties — to be able to end this political nightmare that we are in for decades now. We need to wake up from this nightmare; it really needs to end.
Nevertheless, change does not happen overnight. We have to be more patient, as we still have to go through a long and winding road to reach our destination.
So we must continue to be vigilant, not apathetic; we must continue to educate ourselves to understand what is really happening; and more importantly, we must always try to develop a strong moral compass.
When one looks back during the American period, it must be emphasized that the local officials elected to power then were simply chosen by a select few individuals. And the voters had to be previous government officials during the Spanish period. They also had to have P500 worth of real property, and must be able to speak, read, and write English or Spanish.
Consequently by 1901, only 1.8 percent of the Philippine population were able to register and vote. The ordinary people, therefore, were simply left behind; devoid of a voice in governance.
Filipino political elites – from the middle to upper class – took full advantage of this to grab the power and influence which they failed to attain during the Spanish period. Sadly, they still continue to remain in power at present, even if we – the ordinary people, those who did not have a voice – now have the chance to select the right people in power.
We have failed to capitalize on that chance or opportunity. It seems that we have opted to turn a blind eye to deleterious effects of political dynasties, and ostensibly see political dynasties as an accepted norm in our society.
My only hope for the Filipino people is for us to see things differently – to be critical enough to question these accepted norms in politics, and have the courage to call out any form of corruption and abuse of power done by these political elites/dynasties.
Unlike before, we now have the voice and the power to vote for government officials; I hope we will not put it to waste by electing the same political families over and over again.
