Not until rank and file workers and subsistence farmers and fishermen, who comprise the majority of poor Filipinos, not until they have a genuine political party of their own will this country cease to be ruled by political dynasties.
Not until then will the marginalized sector have a fair chance at having effective access to their rights to a just share of the country’s economic resources. But sad to say, that time is a long way away from where we are now in our life as a nation.
(I guess you could also say it for the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA). Not until they succeed in their armed revolution will we cease to be ruled by a wealthy elite. Not that I am for the CPP-NPA’s violent social change, but they are the only group so far that is challenging in an organized and unified manner the dominance of political dynasties.)
Early campaigning for the 2022 elections is on, and it is again apparent that individuals vying for top seats of power in government come from political groupings or factions of the 20 percent that control 80 percent of the country’s political and economic resources.
Once again, because they all belong to the rich and powerful elite, they are violating election laws, starting with early campaigning, moving on later to laws limiting campaign expenses, disallowing vote-buying, coercing and cheating.
You cannot make me believe that they campaign early, will overspend, cheat and buy votes just so they can serve their countrymen and improve their lives. They cannot possibly be violating legal and moral laws because their hearts are overflowing with the desire to lift their poor brother and sister Filipinos from poverty.
It’s more like they are spending so much and compromising personal morality and integrity because they just want to be in the positions of power and privilege to spin the country’s fortunes in their favor.
The only time I will acknowledge a dose of sincerity in their honeyed promises, is when they finally enact a law effectively implementing the Constitution’s ban on political dynasties and revise/remove the Constitutional restrictions on foreign investments.
Unless the country has a political party that carries the voice of the marginalized, millions will remain impoverished by ruling political dynasties that throughout the nation’s life have unabashedly channeled 80 percent of the country’s resources to the pockets of only 20 percent of the population.
Unless foreigners are allowed to own land and the majority shares of an enterprise, we will never have enough living-wage-paying jobs that competition and innovation from adequately capitalized foreign business ventures bring.
Not until then will the economic sun rise for the country’s poor millions.