Should we blame the people for the evils of political dynasties?
The usual repartee that members of political dynasties would use whenever we talk of the evils of such shameful monopoly of political powers is to blame the people. They would say that they were elected, and that they did not appoint themselves nor force themselves upon the electorate. They would claim that the members of their family are capable and qualified and they submitted themselves to the scrutiny and ultimate acceptance by the voting populace. They would proudly and even arrogantly claim that the masses love them. My God, I am tempted to throw up.
Our system is a case of a vicious circle, a chicken and egg dilemma, a self-perpetuating cycle of family monopoly. We have cases where the patriarch is the governor, the matriarch is the city mayor. One son is congressman, the other is a board member. Grandchildren are SK chairpersons, or members of the provincial board and city council. One uncle is vice mayor and a cousin is vice governor. It is as if these families own the local government units as their family corporations. They run and run, buy votes as if there is no tomorrow. And they bribe ward leaders and election officials. They steal, beg and borrow just to win and continue their shameless greed for power.
Actually, these members of family dynasties do not have the barest respect for the human dignity of the more enlightened citizenry. They pack the municipal government and the city hall with their close relatives and friends, that even national offices and agencies are headed by their cronies. They want to be the one deciding the destiny of the whole province, district, city or town. They are totally incapable of being shamed by their blatant greed for positions and political powers. They have controlled for many decades so many towns and provinces. I do not have to mention their names. Each one of us knows who they are.
Many of them had been indicted by the Ombudsman and the Sandiganbayan. Some of the members of their clans had in fact been convicted of graft or even plunder. Many of them had been jailed and imprisoned but they always come back as if nothing happens. They claim that it is the peoples’ mandates that brought them to power. That is a big baloney. They were not truly elected. They bought their positions through vote-buying or by cheating in the electoral process. They exploit the ignorance, naivete and the helplessness of the masses. They are pretenders, self-righteous and great deceivers. They amass wealth, they grab power by means that are dishonest and immoral.
To blame the people for putting them where they are is to add insult to the masses that they have for too long exploited, hoodwinked, and terrorized. These family dynasties should all be rounded up by the terrorists and the rebels and executed in the town plaza as the true enemies of the people with decades of plunder, corruption and abuses of power and authority. I don’t mind if they are linked to the drug trade and meted the ultimate form of restorative justice and their honor transform to ignominy.
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