Political dynasties offspring of patronage

Second of a series

PART 1 of this series sought to enlighten BBM on the fallacies of his contention that only the economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution are defective that need fixing, directed toward enticing foreign direct investments (FDI). It is our thesis that bad governance hinders the inflow of investments — trumping all economic provisions. We further argued that these defects are simply symptoms, not the root causes. A cursory historical review should give BBM a glimpse of political patronage as central to what ails our system of governance.

Additionally, the late professor Jose "Pepe" Abueva citing Gunnar Myrdal's book, Asian Drama, depicts the Philippines as a "soft state" and a "weak nation," arguing that it is unable to apply the law equally to all its citizens. Our institutions are captives of the oligarchy, and they serve mostly their own interest, the few rich allies and powerful politicians. Our leaders failed to unite and inspire our diverse peoples as a nation.

Another eminent Filipino constitutionalist, former chief justice Renato Puno, viewing political patronage from another angle, refers to dysfunctional democracy as its progeny: "I like to stress the failure of our electoral system to excise the virus of the politics of patronage that has infected our so-called elections ... xxx ... This vicious politics of patronage has allowed few oligarchs and bosses to rule us from colonial times to post-colonial times and their rule has brought us nothing but a facade of democracy, its mirage but not its miracle."

Parts 2 to 4 of this series will draw excerpts from this columnist and various literature by many progressives and even the conservatives in this country, disclosing the systemic defects of the 1987 Constitution that prevent our political leadership from emancipating us from the clutches of poverty, impunity, moral decay, contempt for law and authority, etc., leaving our country in the dust behind our progressive neighbors. It is often touted that shortly after World War 2 the Philippines was economically second only to Japan (after America rehabilitated the former enemy). Today, we find ourselves behind the leading tiger economies of South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and even Vietnam — that was itself devastated in an internecine war in the late 1960s. We aren't in a pissing contest with our neighbors. It is simply a demonstration that our constitution is the main hindrance to our achieving what others have done these past eight decades.