Political dynasties forever?

THE 90-day campaign period for the May, 2013 elections, for national and party-list candidates, has begun and the time to make promises has started with a lot of the aspiring public servants promising the sky and stars just to convince the people to vote for them. This has been the history of politics in the country and no changes are expected in the near future.

The voters of course are not gullible, well most of them anyway, and they readily discern those who are really sincere in serving the people and those who merely aspire for public office with the intention of protecting their own vested interests. It is unfortunate that the Supreme Court, the final judge of the land, has not ruled against the continuing existence of so-called political dynasties. These dynasties have ruled several parts of the country for the past several decades with impunity establishing their own brand of rule and exercising their own kind of power over their constituencies. These political dynasties have wielded patronage to such an extreme degree of sophistication that their subjects are rendered deaf, mute and blind, incapable of making their own decisions except those suggested to them by those in power. And to think that people have started to believe that our country has started to turn over a new leaf with the “matuwid na daan” mantra of those residing in Malacanang. It seems that the concept of a straight path is left to the discretion of those who could manipulate it to suit their wishes and interests.

It may be argued that political dynasties may not be all that bad since elective officials who have acquitted themselves admirably in public service and are prohibited by law to continue serving the people may encourage their immediate relatives, both by blood and law, to take their place thereby assuring the continuity of the good things they have done. That is the theory, of course, because some may hold the belief that a good tree necessarily will produce good fruit. On the other side of the coin, there are those who would also say that the good traits of those to be replaced or succeeded may not necessarily be reflected on those relatives who will succeed. In fact, it may even be posited that those who are involved in political dynasties are prone to abuses and misuse of power simply because - having stayed too long in power - they have started to become insensitive to the plight and needs of their subjects.

Establishing their own fiefdoms families who have established political dynasties hold the false belief that their way is the only way and that the people should simply follow.

The really bad thing in all of this is that the people who are most affected by this kind of political aberration seem to be apathetic in their actions and seem to allow themselves to succumb and agree to this dysfunction.

Now that election time is nearing may be its time for the people, particularly the majority of voters, to have a long hard think in choosing the new leaders of the country.

Try not to vote for candidates who capitalize on their good looks, money, influence, popularity, relationship with existing public elective officials, and those who simply pretend to espouse advocacies so that they may find favor by the voters.

Now is the proper time and opportunity to carefully discern those who are really sincere in serving the people and those who are merely taking advantage of the popularity of their relatives who are public officials to get voted into office.

Ninety days is quite a long time to carefully evaluate all the aspiring candidates for public office and by the time the first ballot is cast the country may hopefully have a new brand of leaders who will not be beholden to their relatives or anybody else except the people whom they will serve.

Also, it is well to remember, as often stated by legal pundits, that the surest way to determine whether political dynasties have a place in our country is through the ballot.