Santiago F. Dumlao Jr. l October 30, 2024 l Business Mirror
THE term “pachydermal insensitivity” describes the thick-skinned insensitivity of the current electoral candidates from political dynasties. They are oblivious to the spirit of the constitutional mandate against such dynasties as they proliferate to dominate the electoral landscape.
In fact, it seems that they are defiantly flaunting their masterful resistance to the pressures of public opinion against such family-centered political monopolies.
The more prominent political dynasties are of course the Marcoses of Ilocos Norte, the Dutertes of Davao, the Romualdezes of Leyte, the Abaloses of Mandaluyong, and so many others. In the Senate we have the siblings Cayetano and Estrada and the mother and son Villar. We could include the “Three Stooges” Larry, Curly and Moe, who are related not by blood but by their common legislative inadequacies.
Political dynasties, we must insist, are inherently bad for the genuine democracy we aspire for. Their motivation is always to keep political power and influence in the family which naturally extends to undue business advantage and finally entrenched economic power. This power usually is manifested in the form of juicy government contracts layered with multiple levels of commissions “for the boys;” shameless corruption institutionalized, indeed.
The political power monopoly allows the dynasts an accumulated and accumulating concentration of wealth, much from government budgets leaked out to their private pockets so they have funds to buy political loyalties, votes and, even in some extreme cases, to guns-for-hire to threaten or eliminate anyone who dares obstruct the plans of the political big boss. Sooner or later, the circumstances will require the political dynasty to organize its own private army of security guards to provide protection for itself or, perhaps, to impose its will on political opponents.
Then what we spawn are several fiefdoms; that’s what we have in the country right now at the levels of local government units. The feudal lord who presides over the political dynasty rations favors upon his voter-constituents in such forms as government appointments, job referrals, contracts, business openings and hard cash of course. In recompense, in the best spirit of “utang na loob” (debt of gratitude), constituents continue to vote the dynast into political position. There is no such thing as “vote-wisely” or “civic duty” involved in this electoral transaction: just the nurtured personal fealties playing out to favor the political lord.
This is feudalism in modern clothing.
Now we find ourselves dismayed, frustrated, distressed, aggrieved. How did these political dynasties grow like mushrooms in the dark?
It is clear that the Filipino voters have not displayed much good discernment in the exercise of their voting rights (and I say this with conviction, at the risk of being accused of being presumptuous). This lack of voter discernment has metastasized to electing clowns to the once-revered legislative Upper House, assert several observers. But others say they’re not even clowns anymore: they’re no longer funny in what they’re doing or not doing.
The reality is that we are now paying for our past indifference and our lack of action or counter-action. We knew that our crooked politicians had deliberately kept their local constituents “ignorant” or “uneducated” so as for them not to question the political status quo of political dynasties. So long as the voters continued to receive their regular portions of favors capped by cold cash on election day, the political dynasties could stay in power.
That’s how the show goes on.
The pachydermal insensitivity of our political dynasts is so imbedded in their hopelessly “kapal mukha” (thick-skinned) complex, nurtured to a good bake over time, because we so-called “thinking” citizens did not do anything much to stop it. Like lazy pachyderms we were dismissive about it and refused to make a move from our comfort zones.
Ours, perhaps, is the sin of pachydermal immobility?
*** The views and opinions expressed above are those of Santiago F. Dumlao Jr. and do not necessarily represent the views of the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines and the BusinessMirror. Photo from Pinterest.