Poverty linked to existence of political dynasties— think tank

Poverty, lack of job opportunities and investments are tied to the prevalence of the political families or dynasties in the Philippines, according to a study made by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center.

"Ang isa pang pattern ay dumadami sila (political families) sa mga lugar na napakahirap, na walang trabaho, walang investor," Ronald Mendoza, executive director of the AIM Policy Center said in a report by GMA News reporter Lei Alvis on Friday.

Mendoza added, "Potentially, kung saan walang economic development, kung saan maraming kahirapan doon tayo umaasa sa mga pamilya na makapangyarihan na magiging patron nung mga komunidad."

The report said 500 political families rule across the 81 provinces of the country.

More than 150 clans held control of one position for more than two decades, uninterrupted.

Political families in 22 provinces held 50 percent or more local positions.

Three out of four legislators in the Senate and House of Representatives in the 16th Congress are members of a political family.

Even President Benigno Aquino III is from the influential Cojuangco and Aquino clans of Tarlac.

The municipality of Quezon in Nueva Ecija, meanwhile, has been ruled by the Joson clan for 66 years.

And because the Josons won in the last elections, they have the longest uninterrupted control of one position (mayor) in the whole country.

The Josons and 16 other families (Durano, Abadilla, Sahali, Villar, Sitoy, Cojuanco, Ortega, Gironella, Mamba, Emano, Purisima, Gonzales, Vargas, Dy, Singson, Zubiri) lead in GMA News Research's list of political clans.

In the said list, 11 families are successful in their races while the Josons and five other clans (Abadilla, Villar, Gironella, Gonzalez, and Vargas) were unopposed.

The bets of Escario and Ortega clans lost in their mayoralty races in the May 9 elections.

The Escario clan has ruled Bantayan Island in Cebu for uninterrupted 73 years while the Ortega family controlled San Fernando, La Union for uninterrupted 34 years.

In Bataan, the Payumo clan's 48 years of rule in their hometown of Dinalupihan was ended when Jojo Payumo lost the mayoral race to Angela Garcia in 2013.

Also in 2013, the members of Payumo clan who ran in the elections all lost.

In this year's election, no one from the Payumo clan ran while Rep. Enrique Garcia and his three children were unopposed in their races.

According to the report, political rivalries are sometimes between the members of the same family.

Members of the Datumulok clan fought one another for mayor, vice mayor, and councilor posts in Binidayan, Lanao Del Sur.

But there is a possibility that the rivalries between relatives is just a strategy, according to Mendoza.

"Yung mag strategy na sabay-sabay (tumatakbo), in fact, if you think it from an economic point of view, mas matipid na tumakbo ng sabay-sabay kasi pare-pareho yung brand niyo e," he noted.  - APG, GMA News