Recently in Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Category

HISTORY repeats itself like a broken record. Before, it was conjugal dictatorship and cronies. Then, it was Kamag-anak, Inc. Now, we call it political dynasty. Really, there's nothing new under the sun. The Estradas had set a bad precedent when mother and son won simultaneous seats in the Senate. In the recent election, we saw senatoriables with kin already s itting in the Senate. That's one the reasons why I did not vote for Alan Cayeta no, Vic Magsaysay and Koko Pimentel (See my previous blog entry: http://inquirerbloggers.net/eleksyon2007/2007/05 /16/why-i-did-not-vote-for-pichay-cayetano-et-al/). In our country, we see fathers sitting as mayors with their children sitting as congressmen. In one city, four brothers ran for mayor, congressmen for both of its districts, and party-list representative. When the local official finishes his third term, he makes his wife run for the position. Then we also discover that some of the nominees of the party-lists are children of congressmen. Why do we tolerate this? Before the election I went to Bicol. I asked a pedicab driver why he would vote for Dato Arroyo. He answered, "Siyempre anak siya ng pangulo. Eh di mas malakas sa taas." (Of course, he is the son of the president. So he must be well-connected up there.) What if Dato loses this ele ction? Does that mean the President will neglect that district in Bicol? That i s why political dynasty is so unfair. Now, these politicians claim that there's no law against it. Granted, it may no t be illegal. But it is immoral. Democracy is about equality. Where is equality in political dynasty? Is there equality when power is concentrated on just a f ew influential families? I heard Alan Cayetano say that kings pass on power to their sons. Mr. Cayetano, we are not under a monarchy. Well, at least in a mona rchy, the king dies first before the prince takes over. Why not wait for your s ister to step down before you run for senator? How can siblings (or father and son as in the case of the Pimentels) be a fair representative of the entire cou ntry? Where's equality in that? They claim that they are qualified. Fine. "Sila lang ba ang mga anak ng Diy os?" (Are they the only children of God?) Are they the only ones qualified ? Plus, they are not just banking on their qualifications. They are taking adva ntage of name recall. That's undue advantage. Did they focus solely on their qu alifications in their campaign? Really now? Did the voters vote for them solely because they are qualified? Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. claimed that political dynasty is not prohibited by the ten commandments. Well, Mr. Senator, it is. God said, "Thou shalt no t steal." Isn't political dynasty stealing the opportunity to serve from o thers? At least, Senator Panfilo Lacson had the moral courage not to allow one of his sons to run for a local elective position. He told his son not to run while he is a senator. It seems to me that it's all about power. I believe they just could not let go of power, that they just want to perpetuate themselves in power, that they lust for power so much that they want more of it. That's why any anti-dynasty bill is doomed to failure even before it is put on paper.

DESPITE trying to put our best foot forward, we have come up short again as a n ation in proving that democracy is strong in our nation. Even with the relativ ely "calm" and "peaceful" election this time around, this did not deter the usu al anomalies in the election process from taking place. Vote buying, using children during election day, and voter disenfranchisement w ere just some of the usual activities that were observed. As reported in PCIJ< /a>,

ASIAN foreign observers expressed deep regret over the failure of t he Commission on Elections (Comelec) to conduct peaceful, honest and orderly el ections last May 14 in the six provinces of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Min danao (ARMM).

And the observation did not end in ARMM, as I reported on Tingog.com; other reports included: Voters disenfran chised in Tondo, soldiers harassing foreign observers at a Cebu checkpoint, obs ervers being caught in midst of soldiers and crowd in Guimba, blatant cheating and chaos in Lanao Del Sur polls, as well as irregularities in Quezon... Not that any election is perfect, but it seems the international media picked u p on Arroyo's statement the other day, and concluded that the election was fair ly peaceful. It's good to note, however, that some foreign observers do have confidence that our election process will improve, and one observer also emphasized a move tow ard computerized elections.

THAT'S what former Senate president Jovito Salonga fears. Here's an excerpt from the Philippine Daily Inquirer story:

MANILA, Philippines--President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyoâs decision t o call out the military to help police disband private armies, man 24-hour chec kpoints and stop political killings has prompted ex-Senate President Jovito Sal onga to warn that the May 14 elections could turn out to be as âviolent and fra udulentâ as the Marcos-era polls.

In an open letter sent Tuesday to the President through Executive S ecretary Eduardo Ermita, Salonga called on Ms Arroyo to ensure the peace and th e credibility of the midterm elections so as not to worsen current problems, in cluding the continuing killings. Salonga said Ms Arroyoâs order for more checkpoints nationwide was âwhat [the d ictator Ferdinand] Marcos also ordered in the 1969 elections, described by News week (Nov. 24, 1969) and Time (Feb. 16, 1970) as the dirtiest, most violent and most corrupt in modern Filipino history.â