SOCIAL STUDIES

MRS. DESPOJO

POLITICAL DYNASTIES
GRAFT AND CORRUPTION
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By Sai Aluamento, Nea Aplasca

As young witnesses of the prolonged period of political dynasties in the history of aristocratic
families, harboring graft and corruption at the expense of our country’s best interest is
absolutely why our country’s internal issues have not subsided, nor are we implying that we are
in total mayhem. Unfortunately, our country suffers from these two co-existing problems
recurring every time we attempt to diminish them with different approaches and solutions on
how to finally put an end to them. Although, what are we to do as citizens of this country, at its
very founding, but to reject dynastic politics and graft and corruption alike?

To end political dynasties in our country is not a menial task; however, in this paper, let us
brainstorm for available solutions and dig into important and relevant information required to
instigate measures to combat political dynasties. One of the ways to solve such a predicament is
to: simply follow the Constitution. Nevertheless, this bill has not been passed by the Congress
as they are part of a political dynasty or because they are plainly corrupt. This bill has been
called upon for many years to the congress to pass the Anti-Dynasty Law but they all
disregarded this law, not until Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago filed the bill no. 2649 or in
other words the Anti-Political Dynasty Act.

Clearly, it is still unsuccessful. Passing this bill is our hope of turning the tables around, as
several other politicians can attest to and have agreed upon, it has also been discussed in news
articles such as CNN Philippines, Manila Times, and so on. Based on our findings of the reliable
information we have gathered thus far, we have summarized the idea that: first, lawmakers
themselves come from political dynasties. Second, and most importantly, we can conclude that
this is an effective strategy to demolish political dynasties.

Political dynasties have long prevailed, to the extent that they have grown comfortable in their
seats. The question is, who is responsible for that? The Philippines is a democratic country,
which means we are free to vote whoever we like, then perhaps we must look among ourselves
and wonder if we, the people, are possibly contributing to the problem? When there are cases
such that we fail to vote for a candidate who abides by our needs, it is most likely that we are a
part of it. As we take into account the responsibility of voting as citizens of this country, we
must learn and be able to scrutinize each candidate for their general background to get a
glimpse of what they are truly capable of, and if it is ensured that both their short-term and
long-term goals for this country are necessarily what helps benefit and gives progress to our
country presently.

The relationship between dynastic politics and graft and corruption are similar in the context of
bearing a social sin. Consequently, it affects the country and the people within. How can we not
relate these subjects, when they all talk about the benefit of the wealthy individuals that tower
over the destitute communities suffering in vain from their selfish acts and desires? Well, if you
have a country with big cities and/or municipalities, taking that into context, having an entire
wealthy family that will take part in the political area, it’s just corrupted. And it's considered a
sin in a political sense because no one should be above the law, also known as Article II, Section
26 of the 1987 Constitution, they are basically abusing their power and wealth and those types
of actions are against interpersonal relationships or communities. If it weren’t for the law,
sooner or later we can expect that people would now wage war against the perpetrators and
that’s considered a social sin, in the first place they shouldn’t have abused their power, instead
they should have acted morally, but corruption is corruption, we cannot change their mindset
although we can stop them.

Corruption affects those who are in poverty, thus making the victims or the community
experience oppression and exploitation of innocent people, and dynasties will persevere in
misuse of the funds for their own personal gain. We have to be aware of all the things that have
been occurring around us, and that people would need to set limits based on these happenings.
We should never tolerate any sign of corruption. We have to follow our own conscience, how we
think that they are the best pick or option to lead our country with hope.

Lastly, how do we fight graft and corruption? In this course, let us thoroughly examine its root
causes. Broad areas of corruption are evidently being studied, in which, the said factors are
mainly composed of the lack of credibility and transparency, vast discretion of use of
development funds, culture of blindness, and lastly, uninformed and apathetic population. The
aforementioned factors have led to corrupt practices that are done by government officials and
the public, ever-knowing of these activities, have blamed them for the deterioration of their
standards of living.

Our paper subsequently argues that one effective strategy to tackle this active issue presently
being dealt with in the Philippines is to actively involve civil society groups in the governance of
the country. A suggestion of two existing approaches to minimize corruption include: formal
and informal mechanisms. Formal mechanisms consist of laws, rules, regulations and issuances
promulgated by the government to persecute, investigate, and/or prevent corrupt practices.
Informal mechanisms are located outside the government structure and include the civil society
groups and non-government organizations, both those based locally and with international
connections. If we enable the computerization of electoral counting process, educate/inform all
citizens to create a general anti-corruption environment and expand the reporting system to
make elected officials more accountable for election promises, then it could eliminate problems
linked to one of the areas of corruption which is election frauds, the other being the misuse of
congressional perks. To address the misuse of legislative perks and privileges, it is a must to:
advocate for the strict implementation of the existing provisions in the Local Government Code,
directly release the congressional development funds to the local government units, install
performance rating system to make members of congress more accountable and conduct a
nationwide anti-corruption awareness program.

In light of the problems discussed above, as we all know, these issues have continuously hinder
the growth and success of our country, placing the supposed-to-be strengths of the Philippine
government at a disadvantage rather than used as an advantage. These suggestions are practical
measures which can reduce, to the very least, or make it cease to exist. The success of these
measures require a fundamental shift of culture to a state wherein Filipinos no longer tolerate
corrupt acts, if they want their government to work in that very same way.