#3 Politics as Family Business: Elite Politics in the Philippines

"They are richer, older, better educated, and better connected than the rest of us. The great majority of them are also part of families whose members have been in public office for two or more generations." -Coronel et. al. (2004)

Hailing from the Olden Times

TOP 10 Political Families in the World (Silicon India News, 2012) [From upper left-right] Kennedy Family (US), Kim Family (North Korea), Bhutto-Zardari Family (Pakistan), Nehru-Gandhi Family (India), Arslan Family (Lebanon), Hatoyama Family (Japan), Hussein Family (Iraq), Springs and Spring-Rices Family (England), Castro Family (Cuba) and Bismarck Family (Germany).

THEY ARE not a natural creation of the modern times. They are the few powerful families who were able to successfully forge themselves into the electoral politics of their respective countries. They are what many call, the political families.

If we are going to be stricter with the use of terms, political family is one of the basic structures in elite politics. There are also clan politics (alliance of 2 or more political families or dynasties) and also, political dynasties (3 generation or more, much stronger version of the political family). When it comes to definitions, there are also lots. Various scholars define it differently, depending on the socio-economic and political context from which they are coming from.

This third blog entry focuses on the Philippine experience. Existence of political clans and elites have been mentioned several times throughout the many discussions in class (even in the documentary, "End of Poverty"). By employing a Quantitative Approach, I aim to articulate on their impacts and existence. As the focus of our Senior Research Paper (Thesis), I wish to impart some basic facts about them coupled with my personal reflection.

Are we Better Off Without them?

The Marcoses 1986. (www.bbc.co.uk)

There are lots of political families in the Philippines currently inasmuch as there are at least a dozen of political clans. But where did they come from? Well, the answer to that is quite complex. Teehankee (2007) proposed that varying socio-economic conditions allowed for the establishment of these political elites (political families, clans or dynasties). And given the huge variety of socio-economic conditions in the Philippines, it is not surprising that there are various typological mix-ins from which each political elite unit came from. But it is very important to note that most of them where actually tapped during the American Period when the colonial government tapped the local economic elites (the hacienderos) of the country to join the political arena. Now, we call them the caciques of our very own, Cacique Politics. Examples of these caciques are the Lacsons, Escuderos and Roxases among many others.

Based on my and my SRP/thesis partner's (Rowen Macapagal) assessment, there are at least 65 political families in existence today (15th Congress). Needless to say, it is very important to note the important role of the Philippine legislative branch to elite politics. Given the dichotomous interest of political elites in the Philippines, both in business and in politics, it is not impossible to predict that each family would install their scion in Congress in order to protect their family interest. These political families are scattered all throughout the archipelago and they are more numerous in Luzon, near the central/national government, the institution which is supposed to regulate interests in the country. The irony, indeed.This is not surprising again, given the reality that our incumbent president is a member of a very powerful political clan of the Cojuangco-Aquino from Tarlac.

Given the reality that they are already here, now let us ask, have they done anything good? The answer is two-fold. There are political families in the Philippines which actually pushed for economic development in their respective territories like the Osmenas in Cebu - they are what we call the Benevolent Political Elites and they constitute only a fraction of the dominant picture. In quantitative political terms, they are called the outliers.

Impacts of their Existence to the Filipino People: Quantitative Analysis

So what is the predominant condition that these political families paint?
Let us analyze this in terms of electoral competitiveness, wealth disparity and poverty implications in light of the simplified articulation of Mendoza et. al,'s 2012 study, "An Empirical Analysis of Political Dynasties in the 15th Philippine Congress."

When it comes to competitiveness of elections, the disparity can be clearly seen. Dynastic representatives have wider margin of errors compared to non-dynastic representatives. Just like what Coronel et. al (2007) made mention in their landmark publication, "The Rulemakers", this is not surprising. Through years of existence, political dynasties have already mastered their political machineries through times - both in legal and non-legal means.

Talking about net worth, dynastic representatives are a whole lot richer (in terms of mean calculations) compared to non-dynastic representatives. Let's face it: there is no poor congressman in the Philippines. With the many ways by which they could secure bounties (pork barrel, log-rolling etc.) all of them are millionaires. But in this specific case of the matter, the disparity can be clearly seen. There appears, still, to be an elite core within the elite institution, favoring the dynastic representatives.

In terms of poverty (all in incidence, gap and severity), districts dominated by political dynasty representatives are poorer, in large margins. Well, this is disturbing. Considering that dynastic representatives are richer, then why are their constituencies poorer? Well have to take this into a more context-specific playing field but pretty much, the over-arching trend is indeed, disturbing. It begs the question, why?


These three, of the many possible operationalization, speaks a lot. Where there are political dynasties, poverty exists and electoral competitiveness is bench-marked while their (dynastic representatives) assets increase. The next question is, how do we deal with them?

Indeed, inasmuch as it took so long a time for them to be installed where they are, we also need that much of a time to pull them out. Sidelining their power through legislation is impossible given the reality that most of these political elites have installed their scions in the Congress to protect their family interests. The voters, well, most of the voters comprise the lower socio-economic strata. They are the ones who are more conducing to accept money in return for votes in exchange for a temporary reprieve from their painful everyday realities. The civil society, well, much of them have given up hopes for this kind of mess. Now, where do we turn to?

The answer to this question is still on pending. Because we have seen initiatives from almost all sides of the equation, fail considerable every single time. But what is certain is this: regardless of what sector we may possible align ourselves into, we have to actually move towards the realization that we are better off without them and do something about it. It's never too late, even if we are against centuries-old powers. ✻