Sociologists differ views on giants’ fall

CEBU, Philippines - The 2013 midterm elections saw the fall of some political giants in Cebu.

For University of San Carlos (USC) Department of Sociology, Anthropology and History assistant professor Zona Amper, this means enlightenment of Cebuano voters.

“The fall of some traditional political families mean that voters are looking for alternative leaders who they hope could lead in addressing important issues and concerns of ordinary people,” Amper told The Freeman.

An opposing analysis was given by Cebu Normal University Sociology and Anthopology Professor Gary Lapiz.

“We cannot consider that the fall of political giants in 2013 as an indication that Cebuanos have really changed. Politics man gud is a cycle. For instance, Osmeña and Gullas have already built political names yet they did not make this year’s election. Yes, we could say that there is a sudden shift in the 2013 electoral turn-out, but let us see if there is a continuous consistency by the next election in 2016,” Lapiz explained.

University of the Philippines (UP) Cebu Political Science professor Zenaida Ligan, observed that despite having “dynasties” crashed down in certain towns and cities in the province, some of these were merely replaced by another political clan.

“What we have in fact is just changing one political clan with another, what we call as a rotation of accountable elites in our politics,” Professor Ligan told The Freeman.

Despite believing the elections “to be an avenue to effect change,” the USC mentor thought the electoral system will “definitely not bring about social change.”

“That is why some alternative candidates are becoming more popular even as traditional ones remain popular because of their name recall and money politics,” she continued.

While seeing a political maturity in terms of considering emerging and alternative candidates, Ligan does not see a definite end to political clans ruling most of Cebu.

“We can always say that perhaps the voters in Cebu City and the province have become more educated and more discriminating, but as far as political clans go, we are just changing one political clan with another,” she added.

In Cebu City, to be specific, she pointed at two opposing mayoral candidates Tomas Osmena and Mike Rama, both bringing a family name that has been in politics for decades.

The reason why Osmena lost to his former protégé Rama, she opined, was the congressman’s constant slamming on his opponent in everything that the incumbent has done.

“Tomas Osmena, I think has overplayed his hand in Cebu City by criticizing Rama almost every breath he takes and without even giving Rama some credit of how he ran the city was his own undoing. People do not like bullies. And to give credit to Rama, he was very cool and just laughed off whatever was thrown to him by Osmena and Young,” Ligan explained.

She then illustrated the interconnection between and among political clans in Cebu province.

“Political clans… If you are talking about Tomas Osmena, Eddie Gullas and the Garcias, well they are still there. In Toledo, Sonny Osmena won as mayor, (Hilario, III) Davide who won as governor and his running mate (Agnes) Magpale are supported by another political clan in the north, the Duranos and the Martinezes. Gwen Garcia won the 3rd district seat for the House of Representatives, and let us not forget that the Garcias are also connected with the Duranos,” she enumerated.

For ordinary Cebuanos, the fall of some veterans in politics gives hope to them.

“Mas maayo nuon na’ng bag-ong mga ngan, kay naa ta’y hope ug bag-ong gobyerno, nya lesser kurakot sad ba (It’s better to have new names, it gives us hope and new government that is less of corruption),” said Maricel, a sari-sari store owner.

Maricel said the results of last Monday’s elections show that the people are feed up of traditional politicians.

Ernest Clyde Ortiz, a university student, said that the apparent downfall of political dynasties in Cebu gives new politicians a chance.

“Maayo na’ng wala na ang political dynasties diri sa Cebu, aron matagaan ug higayon ang ubang mga pulitiko nga magmugna ug mga bag-ong proyekto para sa kalambuan sa Cebu, labi na ‘tong mga proyektong wala mahatag sa niaging mga naglingkod,” he said.

Amper on the other hand observed that the automated elections have made it hard for candidates involved in vote buying to monitor if the “bought” voters did vote for them.

“Automated elections lessened irregularities. Even if vote buying was still massive, most people accepted the money but still voted for the alternative candidates,” she said.

Although Lapiz said it is premature to say if the past two automated elections made it more effective than the manual voting and counting.

“It’s too early for now to conclude. We still have to observe and follow the sustainability and pattern of Cebuanos political behavior as we as politicians. We can prove further by the results of the next 2016 elections,” Lapiz told The Freeman. –with  Raffy Cabristante,Silliman University intern/FPL (FREEMAN)