You don't need an anti-dynasty law to break the dynasties. Here's how to do it.

By JoeAm on September 2, 2024

Analysis and Opinion

By Joe America

Power is like water, it flows downhill. The dynasties exercise it within their realms. The Dutertes run the Davao realm. The Espiñas run my Biliran realm. The Marcos clan is joined with the Romualdez clan. Even the Aquinos are dynastic.

Barangay captains know where their bread is buttered. And they know how to extend the governor's or mayor's power to the voters.

But dynasties have three critical weaknesses.

They are just regional in scope.
They bicker with one another.
They will turn on a dime if someone with more power comes along.

Political parties are amalgamations of dynasties. Their job is to angle for advantage. To do this, they brag and they bicker.

This structural braging and bickering was recently displayed by Sonny Trillanes in an unfortunate comment he made on X. He argued that Senator Hontiveros would be a better President than Leni Robredo. Hooookay! Load the cannon and fire! I despaired over the tweet. Such an unnecessary division of the "good guys", sure to anger a whole lot of pinks. I can't imagine what he or we will gain from such a sowing of spite.

How will we ever stop the eternal bickering that makes the Philippines a nation of tribes instead of a nation of principle and progress?

The most common solution we hear is for the Legislature to enact the Constitution's demand to end dynasties: "SECTION 26. The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law."

Unfortunately, enacting a law goes against the grain of power so it hasn't been done in 37 years.

But it seems to me it does not take a Constitutional amendment to defeat the dynasties. It takes two things:

A broad national party or umbrella organization to unite subordinate parties under principles, not personalities.
A strategy to take over cities, because it is there that voters receive their guidance, in real terms.

Step 1. Philippine democracy is weak because its political parties are small fiefdoms, little gatherings of people who have power in their LGUs or families, but without any national gravitas. The people with national gravitas are boxers and actors and populists who have the knack of being darlings in the titillating tabloid world we live in. So policymaking and the nation's well-being never drive elections. Jazz does, and temporary agreements among powerful families.

Strong political parties like those in the US don't exist here. Principles define US parties, mainly for or against a strong national government. Here parties are shaped by peoples' interests. The interests tend to be self-dealing, not nation-building.

The solution is to establish a national initiative that is stronger than the parochial interests that today drive parties. Those opposed to dynastic rule can do this by forming a unified political umbrella organization that acts like a huge, influential, over-the-top political party. Read: "Organizing to win in 2028"

Hard to do, yes. Bring the Philippines in from the feudal darkness, yes.

Step 2. The strategy to take over cities is a matter of math and influence. Control the cities and you control the barangays. Control the barangays and you control the voters. Well, "influence" is probably a better choice of words than control. But "command" is the reality of today, in a vertical power society. Which the Philippines happens to be.

Here are the 10 largest cities in the Philippines.

Quezon City, 2,960,048
Manila, 1,846,513
Davao City, 1,776,949
Caloocan, 1,661,584
Taguig, 1,223,595
Zamboanga City, 977,234
Cebu City, 964,169
Antipolo, 887,399
Pasig, 803,159
Cagayan de Oro, 728,402

We can do a quick run-through and start to develop a strategy. Quezon City, Joy Belmonte is aligned with Sara Duterte, does she really want to be there? Manila, work with Isko, bring him in. Davao City, forget it. Caloocan, bring Sonny Trillanes back to his senses and get him elected mayor next year. Taguig, Cayetano land, what does he want, can he be a team player? Cebu City, went the wrong direction, bring them back. Pasig, Vico Sotto III, an anchor for the future.

Those are off the top of my head. I'd also recommend bringing the Binays in, for Makati's business strength. Naga should be in if Robredo is running for local office there. It's a regional hub and good governance prototype.

As you worked at this, you'd start to see movement. The more movement you could show, the more you would get.

You don't need a constitutional amendment to break the dynasties. Because you don't have to break them. You have to respect them, work with them, and show them the best path to success for them, and for the Philippines.

To do this, most of us will need to develop new disciplines because we are generally aggressive in protecting our clans, echo chambers, and ideas from outside, and not skilled at building into the outside to merge clans and echo chambers and ideas. Here are a few of the essential disciplines needed:

To expect and accept imperfection, not perfection. The expectation of perfection is unrealistic, and it's destructive..
Develop the ability to give in order to get. A part of the giving must be to stop criticizing allies, and to let go of injured feelings.
Develop a build mentality as a way to approach those with whom we have differed in the past. "Let's build a bigger force for the development of a Philippines on the move."
Develop common ideals with which all can agree. Defining a vibrant future (hope, opportunity), inclusion, economic growth, ending corruption, territorial sovereignty, technology infrastructure, better agency operations, seeing children's development as essential, etc.

This is easy to say, hard to do. It is a combination of purposefulness and forgiveness. Like building intellectual bridges, I suppose, over a river of emotions.

I'd welcome your views on this.

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For deep readers amongst us, I refer you to the following paper on dynasties in the Philippines: Term Limits and Political Dynasties in the Philippines: Unpacking the Link

Cover photo by Bing image generator using the prompt: "Represent three filipino families fighting for power, in oils."