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 sitting in the Senate. That’s one the reasons why I did not vote for Alan Cayetano, 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 election? Does that mean the President will neglect that district in Bicol? That is why political dynasty is so unfair.
Now, these politicians claim that there’s no law against it. Granted, it may not 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 few 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 monarchy, the king dies first before the prince takes over. Why not wait for your sister 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 country? Where’s equality in that?
They claim that they are qualified. Fine. “Sila lang ba ang mga anak ng Diyos?” (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 advantage of name recall. That’s undue advantage. Did they focus solely on their qualifications 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 not steal.” Isn’t political dynasty stealing the opportunity to serve from others?
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.
June 17th, 2007 at 7:00 am
Migz-Koko vote dispute rages on
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KOKO: THE ONLY PROBLEM TAKEN YOUR CASE TO COURT IS THE ENTIRE CORRUPT JUSTICE SYSTEM CONTROL BY THE CORRUPT GLORIA ARROYO. BUT, GO AHEAD AND TAKE YOUR CHANCE LET SEE WHAT THESE JUDGES GOING TO DO. AND WE ARE GOING TO WATCH. LETS SEE WHAT HAPPEN. AS WE ALREADY KNOW THE MAGUINDANAO VOTES ARE TAINTED. BECAUSE THE COMELEC OFFICIAL THE ONE DOING THE CHEATING FOR GLORIA ARROYO. AS WE ALREADY SEE IT. SIGE TULOY ANG LABAN. KAHIT SA KALYE PA!
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By AUREA CALICA and PERSEUS ECHEMINADA
The Philippine Star
With the 11th winner in the senatorial race safely proclaimed, the nation now awaits the votes from Maguindanao to decide the fate of the last two contenders for the 12th slot.
The two contenders – Aquilino “Koko� Pimentel III of Genuine Opposition (GO) and Juan Miguel Zubiri of the administration Team Unity – continued to trade barbs Saturday over the Maguindanao vote issue.
Pimentel, who continues to hang on to a slim lead over Zubiri, vowed to exert all efforts to block the counting of the “missing� votes from Maguindanao.
Zubiri, on the other hand, wanted the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to proceed with the counting, hoping the canvassing of votes from the province would give him the edge over Pimentel in the race for the 12th.
Zubiri welcomed the decision of the COMELEC against declaring a possible failure of elections in Maguindanao and moved to have a re-canvassing of votes.
He said the COMELEC must have seen the wisdom of not declaring a failure of elections in Maguindanao, which could also result in the disenfranchisement of some 300,000 voters.
“I am very grateful that the COMELEC has decided to uphold their (Maguindanaoans’) right of suffrage, since this is the very foundation of our democracy. Let us all remember that mass disenfranchisement is the most cruel form of electoral fraud,� Zubiri said.
Zubiri criticized Pimentel for seeking to exclude the votes from Maguindanao.
“Koko and I are both from Mindanao, so I am bewildered how any son of Mindanao can support a move to disenfranchise a great number of his people,� Zubiri said.
Pimentel insisted COMELEC should exclude the votes from Maguindanao since they have been allegedly compromised.
He said the COMELEC, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBC), could set a dangerous precedent when it ordered the collection of the missing election returns from the province for a recount.
He said COMELEC is going on a “fishing expedition� to retrieve the missing election returns.
Pimentel said he would be forced to seek a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court to prevent the COMELEC from retrieving the questionable returns.
“If they do that, this will be the first time that the COMELEC, acting as the National Board of Canvassers, will go to the province to gather documents when the law and rules provide for a systematic way for the documents to reach the COMELEC-NBC,� he said.
The COMELEC’s plan to send a team of commissioners to retrieve the missing poll returns stemmed from the claims made by Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol that they were stolen.
Bedol, who was the subject of a manhunt by the COMELEC after disappearing for several days during the canvassing, said that among the missing poll documents are the certificates of canvass from the 22 towns and statements of votes from the province.
In all likelihood, Pimentel said the missing elections documents had been tampered with.
The COMELEC initially wanted to declare a failure of elections in Maguindanao following the allegations raised by concerned groups and the opposition.
COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos said they have evidence that local officials had been proclaimed in the province, indicating elections actually took place in the province.
But the opposition claimed irregularities in the conduct of the elections in Maguindanao, citing all Team Unity candidates took the top places in the provincial count while GO candidates got zero votes, which they claimed was improbable.
Pimentel said the votes that came from Maguindanao had been “manufactured,� citing the allegations of teachers who had served during the elections that the ballots had been filled up even before Election Day.
Bedol denied the allegations but failed to show the documents before the COMELEC to support his claims.
As of the latest tabulation, Pimentel is ahead of Zubiri by 120,000 votes.
TU lawyer Romulo Macalintal said the COMELEC is justified to call for a recount of the votes from Maguindanao.
Macalintal said there are numerous Supreme Court decisions against excluding a region from the election count because of the disenfranchisement of voters.
“We cannot just exclude people’s votes because it will suit our needs. The COMELEC is being true to the spirit of this decree, and is therefore consistent with the Supreme Court’s opinion,� Macalintal said.
June 15th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Ha, ha, “guided democracy countries” are actually dictatorships.
Talk about lame euphemisms!
June 11th, 2007 at 6:56 pm
One Team Unity person that I will really remember for a long ,long time is “Tony PET Albano”.He was always so proud that the “Command Votes” were going to deliver the votes for his team.I always wondered where Mr.Tony “PET” was talking about elections in North Korea and other “Guided democracy countries” .
I will not be surprised at all if his appointed Comelec chairman one day!(lol)
June 7th, 2007 at 9:24 am
Well, Im not defending GMA here, but to say that ERAP is a better alternative to lead the country again is a travesty and insult to the dignity of people who dont like ERAP at all. The problem of his supporters are emotional and personality oriented, they turned blind eye on his ridiculous actions during his time, how the people will forget how he displayed his not only TWO but THREE first ladies, his gambling video and so many of his “kanto” rhetorics, HE is shameless!!Makapal ang mukha! If anybody has the right to criticise GMA, it should not be him,kasi wala syang credibilty at all..HE has his chances before, ANO BA ANG GINAWA NYA SA BAYAN? well, he is an idiot actor, kaya di nakapagtataka.
June 4th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
With all these arguments/debates, all I can say: GOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES !!
IT IS US, THE MASA, WHO VOTED THESE POLITICIANS TO RUN OUR GOVERNMENT and IF they win by buying votes, or whatever case, the big question is: WHO VOTED THEM , IN THE FIRST PLACE?? THEN WHY COMPLAIN NOW !!?? Even w/o political dynasty, CORRUPTIONS IS A DISEASE , A ‘CANCER’ of our society !! Lahat magagaling,eh!! Paupuin mo naman, magnanakaw then sila!!