No political dynasties, lesser corruption

The total amount of funds diverted by Filipino politicians thru corrupt practices since 2016 are now estimated at ?1.2 trillion. This is just over an eight-year period, the bulk of it in DPWH infra projects, the balance in overpriced DepEd, DOH, and DOTC programs and projects. In these same eight years, 16 of the 24 senators, 250 of the 318 congressmen/congresswomen, (including partylist representatives), were part of political family dynasties. Recently, Senator Hontiveros also revealed that 113 out of the 149 city mayors are members of family political dynasties. This means that between 75%-80% of the elected government officials belong to family political dynasties.

Culturally and traditionally starting from the pre-colonial barangays, the Filipino people were ruled by the dominant, strong, and landed families. The Spanish colonists perpetuated the situation as it was deemed easier to make deals with the ruling families, while restricting the majority of the masses their liberties. The American era in the Philippines, with public education and the democratic ideas of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, widened the people’s political participation and allowed persons outside of the ruling families to aspire for public office.

While Philippines independence in 1945 meant more political freedom for the Filipinos, it did not really come with economic freedom. The skewed wealth and income distribution prevailing then and the erratic single-digit economic (GDP) growth, did not create a large enough middle class, but maintained the poverty level at the 20% level. These perpetuated and even increased the dominance of family political dynasties, as they leveraged their economic power to enlarge their influence and geographical domain. Political office and the perks that come with it became a family business that generated revenues and wealth for the families. The more relatives in public office the bigger the total family revenues and access to government assets.

The direct correlation between family political dynasties and corruption, does not need any more proving, and neither does the inverse correlation between political dynasties and the economic development of a province, district, or city. The bigger the family political dynasty, the poorer the territory, the slower the economic development. This is because family political dynasties restrict private investments in their areas that compete with their businesses, and may threaten their political influence. The concentration of wealth and income to the members of the dynasties, also diminishes consumption expenditures, as these families buy luxuries or spend their money outside of their areas or outside the country.

The structure, processes, and economic and socio-political dynamics in a family political dynasty are devoid of good governance practices. There is no transparency and accountability to the public, and conflict of interests is not an issue. There is no check and balance as the family member public officials cover each other, and no public audit. The government’s Commission on Audit is even afraid, as in the case of Davao and in many parts of Mindanao.

Diminishing or eliminating political family dynasties will not totally eliminate corruption but will lessen the prevalence and magnitude. A more equitable distribution of income and wealth, stricter enforcement of regulations/laws, and strengthening our institutions are prerequisites to greatly reducing corruption. We can add to these, rationalizing the compensation and perks of government officials and