Ordie
05-14-2007, 12:59 AM
Interesting article about nepotism in the Philippines.
As long as there is chronic nepostism and corruption in the Phillipines, that country will continue to regress in the shadows of its prosperous neighbors. Moreover, its colonial master, the United States, will continue to be called in as the referee.
The externalities nepotism and corruption will continue to feed:
1) The mass exportation of human resources and often exploited talents to the Middle East, and East Asia.
2) The dissatisfaction of poverty stricken areas and dis-enfranchised groups such as the Moros and farmers.
3) The dissatisfaction of the Armed Forces who continue to fight a rebellion, with limited resources and dis-enfranchised from policy making process. Bottom line: the status quo intentionally keeps the military weak enough to prevent coups, but strong enough to keep the insurgents in check.
Family Ties Bind Philippine Government
By CARLOS H. CONDE (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=CARLOS H. CONDE&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=CARLOS H. CONDE&inline=nyt-per)
Published: May 13, 2007
New York Times
MANILA, May 12 — When Julian Resuello, the mayor of San Carlos City in the northern Philippines, was killed by gunmen at a campaign rally on April 28, his brother quickly stepped into his shoes.
A mayoral candidate in Santa Fe, Rogelio Illustrisimo, was killed May 2 in Cebu in violence ahead of national and local elections on Monday.
Mr. Resuello had been seeking the office of vice mayor, and even if his brother Joseres does not win that election, San Carlos City politics is likely to stay in the hands of the Resuello family — Julian’s son Julier was already running to succeed him as mayor.
Such swapping of roles is as common in political families as the violence that has afflicted the Philippines in the approach of the elections on Monday, in which more than 17,000 national and local positions are at stake, including all 265 seats in the House of Representatives and half of the 24 seats in the Senate.
More than 100 people have been killed in the pre-election violence, the police said Friday, with attacks occurring almost daily. The police say they do not have any leads in the killing of Julian Resuello, who was 54.
For generations, political dynasties have dominated elections and governments in the Philippines. They are prominent and moneyed clans, like that of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/gloria_macapagal_arroyo/index.html?inline=nyt-per), whose father was president in the 1960s and whose son is a congressman. Another son is running for congress.
As these clans protect their reign, they often resort to violence to frustrate any attempt by rivals to unseat them.
Experts say the influence of these dynasties has grown more pervasive in recent years.
There are an estimated 250 political families nationwide, with at least one in every province, occupying positions in all levels of the bureaucracy, according to the Center for People Empowerment in Governance, a Philippine nonprofit group. Of the 265 members of Congress, 160 belong to clans, the group says.
“These are the same families who belong to the country’s economic elite, some of them acting as rule makers or patrons of politicians who conspire together to amass greater economic power,” said Bobby M. Tuazon, the center’s director.
Experts say the dynasties have developed a sense of entitlement regarding public positions, while many ordinary Filipinos have come to accept the arrangement as inevitable, making it harder to change the system.
Political dynasties were a consequence of the country’s colonial era, in which an elite was nurtured by the Spanish and, later, the Americans. Even after the country gained independence, in 1946, a largely feudal system persisted, as landed Filipino families sought to protect their interests by occupying public offices.
When he was president in the 1970s and 1980s, Ferdinand Marcos blamed the political dynasties for what was wrong with the country and promised to dismantle them. He did, but then replaced them with new ones that he controlled. Those families persist to this day.
Experts say the rule of the clans has prevented the flowering of genuine democracy.
“Continuing clan dominance is a product of the seemingly immutable and unequal socioeconomic structure, as well as the failure to develop a truly democratic electoral and party system,” said Julio Teehankee, a political scientist at De La Salle University in Manila.
The result, he added, was a political system rife with patronage, corruption, violence and fraud, and a vicious cycle that has prevented the base of aspirants and candidates from expanding.
The Asia Foundation, which has been monitoring elections in the Philippines for decades, said in a report last week that “confusion, inefficiency, corruption, and cheating damaged the credibility of elections, and cast doubt on the democratic legitimacy of elected officials.”
Apart from contributing to corruption, the influence of political dynasties can be detrimental in other ways, according to several studies.
For example, a family in power might not bother to finance government projects in areas controlled by its rivals.
A testament to the enduring power of the old order is that even though a provision in the Constitution calls for weakening the dynasties, Congress has never passed any laws that would put the provision into effect. Bills have been proposed, but many of the lawmakers voting on them are part of the very establishment that the Constitution seeks to curb.
Although there is a widespread belief here that the political dynasties can never be eliminated, some experts point to signs of positive change.
Alex B. Brillantes, who teaches public administration and governance at the University of the Philippines, cited several young politicians from dynasties who had broken with the old ways and shown what he said was a capacity to govern responsibly. He attributed that in part to the increased redistribution of power to local areas in recent years, including the ability to impose taxes.
“Because of local empowerment, good dynasties are becoming more responsive to the call for good governance and to the issue of accountability,” Mr. Brillantes said.
But decentralization has its downside too, experts like Mr. Tuazon and Mr. Brillantes say. They say that as provinces, cities and towns have grown richer with the power to impose local taxes, the potential spoils tempt local politicians, fueling the cycle of corruption and violence.
As long as there is chronic nepostism and corruption in the Phillipines, that country will continue to regress in the shadows of its prosperous neighbors. Moreover, its colonial master, the United States, will continue to be called in as the referee.
The externalities nepotism and corruption will continue to feed:
1) The mass exportation of human resources and often exploited talents to the Middle East, and East Asia.
2) The dissatisfaction of poverty stricken areas and dis-enfranchised groups such as the Moros and farmers.
3) The dissatisfaction of the Armed Forces who continue to fight a rebellion, with limited resources and dis-enfranchised from policy making process. Bottom line: the status quo intentionally keeps the military weak enough to prevent coups, but strong enough to keep the insurgents in check.
Family Ties Bind Philippine Government
By CARLOS H. CONDE (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=CARLOS H. CONDE&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=CARLOS H. CONDE&inline=nyt-per)
Published: May 13, 2007
New York Times
MANILA, May 12 — When Julian Resuello, the mayor of San Carlos City in the northern Philippines, was killed by gunmen at a campaign rally on April 28, his brother quickly stepped into his shoes.
A mayoral candidate in Santa Fe, Rogelio Illustrisimo, was killed May 2 in Cebu in violence ahead of national and local elections on Monday.
Mr. Resuello had been seeking the office of vice mayor, and even if his brother Joseres does not win that election, San Carlos City politics is likely to stay in the hands of the Resuello family — Julian’s son Julier was already running to succeed him as mayor.
Such swapping of roles is as common in political families as the violence that has afflicted the Philippines in the approach of the elections on Monday, in which more than 17,000 national and local positions are at stake, including all 265 seats in the House of Representatives and half of the 24 seats in the Senate.
More than 100 people have been killed in the pre-election violence, the police said Friday, with attacks occurring almost daily. The police say they do not have any leads in the killing of Julian Resuello, who was 54.
For generations, political dynasties have dominated elections and governments in the Philippines. They are prominent and moneyed clans, like that of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/gloria_macapagal_arroyo/index.html?inline=nyt-per), whose father was president in the 1960s and whose son is a congressman. Another son is running for congress.
As these clans protect their reign, they often resort to violence to frustrate any attempt by rivals to unseat them.
Experts say the influence of these dynasties has grown more pervasive in recent years.
There are an estimated 250 political families nationwide, with at least one in every province, occupying positions in all levels of the bureaucracy, according to the Center for People Empowerment in Governance, a Philippine nonprofit group. Of the 265 members of Congress, 160 belong to clans, the group says.
“These are the same families who belong to the country’s economic elite, some of them acting as rule makers or patrons of politicians who conspire together to amass greater economic power,” said Bobby M. Tuazon, the center’s director.
Experts say the dynasties have developed a sense of entitlement regarding public positions, while many ordinary Filipinos have come to accept the arrangement as inevitable, making it harder to change the system.
Political dynasties were a consequence of the country’s colonial era, in which an elite was nurtured by the Spanish and, later, the Americans. Even after the country gained independence, in 1946, a largely feudal system persisted, as landed Filipino families sought to protect their interests by occupying public offices.
When he was president in the 1970s and 1980s, Ferdinand Marcos blamed the political dynasties for what was wrong with the country and promised to dismantle them. He did, but then replaced them with new ones that he controlled. Those families persist to this day.
Experts say the rule of the clans has prevented the flowering of genuine democracy.
“Continuing clan dominance is a product of the seemingly immutable and unequal socioeconomic structure, as well as the failure to develop a truly democratic electoral and party system,” said Julio Teehankee, a political scientist at De La Salle University in Manila.
The result, he added, was a political system rife with patronage, corruption, violence and fraud, and a vicious cycle that has prevented the base of aspirants and candidates from expanding.
The Asia Foundation, which has been monitoring elections in the Philippines for decades, said in a report last week that “confusion, inefficiency, corruption, and cheating damaged the credibility of elections, and cast doubt on the democratic legitimacy of elected officials.”
Apart from contributing to corruption, the influence of political dynasties can be detrimental in other ways, according to several studies.
For example, a family in power might not bother to finance government projects in areas controlled by its rivals.
A testament to the enduring power of the old order is that even though a provision in the Constitution calls for weakening the dynasties, Congress has never passed any laws that would put the provision into effect. Bills have been proposed, but many of the lawmakers voting on them are part of the very establishment that the Constitution seeks to curb.
Although there is a widespread belief here that the political dynasties can never be eliminated, some experts point to signs of positive change.
Alex B. Brillantes, who teaches public administration and governance at the University of the Philippines, cited several young politicians from dynasties who had broken with the old ways and shown what he said was a capacity to govern responsibly. He attributed that in part to the increased redistribution of power to local areas in recent years, including the ability to impose taxes.
“Because of local empowerment, good dynasties are becoming more responsive to the call for good governance and to the issue of accountability,” Mr. Brillantes said.
But decentralization has its downside too, experts like Mr. Tuazon and Mr. Brillantes say. They say that as provinces, cities and towns have grown richer with the power to impose local taxes, the potential spoils tempt local politicians, fueling the cycle of corruption and violence.