Lagman says Duterte misdefined oligarchy

Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman (File Photo)
Albay 1st District Representative Edcel Lagman (File Photo)

ALBAY First District Representative Edcel Lagman said President Rodrigo Duterte misdefined oligarchy when the latter claimed to have dismantled it without declaring martial law.

Lagman said such claim is “a farce because the fact is he has barely scraped the surface of what he believes is oligarchy.”

“Duterte erroneously appears to automatically equate ‘big business’ with ‘oligarchy’ when there are essential differences between the two,” he added.

Lagman explained that the government’s role is to watch over big businesses in the country, not exterminate them.

“An oligarchy perpetrates itself to capture and run government through chosen proxies. It literally means the ‘rule of the few’ who control political and economic power by dictating government policies,” said Lagman.

“Democracy and big business can co-exist in a free society, and the role of government is to rein in big businesses, not to exterminate them, even as oligarchy is anathema to democracy,” he added.

Lagman said Duterte may have referred to ABS-CBN after House Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano claimed that the network’s demise is a “triumph over the oligarchy.”

“Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano parrots his patron - the dismal denial of ABS-CBN’s bid for a new franchise was pursuant to a personal and partisan agenda completely devoid of any ideological or doctrinal shift,” he said.

“It is only a matter of accident that ABS-CBN represents ‘big business’, but regulators testified that it has not violated the laws,” Lagman added.

Read: Duterte says he 'dismantled oligarchy'

In a speech before the military in Jolo, Sulu on Monday, July 13, the President said he was able to dismantle oligarchy in the country without having to impose martial law.

“Without declaring martial law, sinira ko ‘yung mga tao na humahawak sa ekonomiya at hindi nagbabayad. They take advantage sa kanilang political power,” Duterte said.

He made the statement just three days after the House committee on legislative franchises voted to reject ABS-CBN’s application for a new franchise to operate radio and broadcasting stations.

Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque, who had repeatedly insisted that the President was neutral on the ABS-CBN franchise issue, said Duterte was referring to Lucio Tan, Manuel Pangilinan and Ayala Group as the oligarchs.

Duterte, however, has cleared Tan after Philippine Airlines paid its tax liabilities and apologized to Pangilinan and the Ayala Group after the two readily responded to his call for help in addressing the Covid-19 crisis.

ABS-CBN shut down on May 4, 2020, in compliance to the cease and desist order issued by the National Telecommunications Commission upon the expiration of its 25-year franchise. (Jove Moya/SunStar Philippines)

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