Barons assembling
Leave it to MLQ3 to be always behind in his being a political sage. The formation of regional and local political parties became a trend as early as 2016. The best example now is Daughterte, who has reassumed chairmanship of Hugpong ng Pagbabago, after resigning to join Lakas-CMD to run for Vice-President.
Most of the politicians in vote-rich provinces have instituted political restructuring. Cavite as the number one province in terms of voters has the Revilla, Tolentino, Remulla, Abaya and Barzaga families holding local and national elective posts. In 2016, with the exception of those allied with the Liberal Party, the other political lords delivered the votes for Duterte after dumping Vice-President Jojo Binay.
It’s the same story in Cebu. You have the Garcia’s and Osmena’s along with the Davide’s and Rama’s. The Duranos are now making a comeback with the entry of Joseph Ace Durano in the gubernatorial race.
And it goes on and on from Luzon all the way down to Mindanao, which begs the question, why the reluctance to change the political structure at the national level when the local and regional party’s have already done so?
The concept is almost the same in the corporate world where companies are spun-off into separate business units in order to have managers become responsible for the profit/loss of the unit. In this case, it would be the local economy of the LGU measured in terms of revenues vis-a-vis cash reserves. It is actually the local or regional economic development which would be the constitutents’ benchmark for the retention or rejection of those running for office at that level.
If the Spaniards hadn’t come to consolidate the archipelago, the Philippines wouldn’t have come into being. Mindanao would definitely be Islamic, much like Indonesia and Malaysia. Luzon would be a mix. Visayas would be hard to call given its pre-Spanish history. It would actually be dependent on the emergence of a organic ruler who could consolidate territory to form a state.
The Malolos Constitution was parliamentary to begin with. The Filipinos who studied in Madrid did so with the goal of the colony being represented in the Spanish parliament or Cortes. They were fighting for taxation with representation as against the prevailing taxation without representation at that time.
Spain instituted a plantation-style system anchored on the friars. The Americans gave us a plantation-style democracy where they co-opted the ilustrados in their pacification drive. The ilustrados became the modern-day oligarchs after World War II and the continue their rule up to today.
It can be said that it was Marcos who dared to go against the system by returning to the roots when Filipinos met to decide their fate at the Malolos Congress. This became the 1973 Constitution, which was again abolished and replaced by the 1987 Constitution.
The 1935 and 1987 Constitutions are virtually the same except for certain provisions, particularly the martial law safeguards. It can be said that when Cory restored “freedom” and “democracy,” she only restored the old system which her family and other ruling family’s were comfortable with. Since 1946, the average Filipino has been under the yoke of the oligarchs. Marcos tried but failed to reform the system. While he had the best intentions at the beginning, he may have been consumed by hubris in the middle and the global economic conditions were not in his favor at that time, plus the fact that we were effectively still under the control of the US. This is unlike our other regional neighbors who didn’t have the same kind of relationship with their former colonial masters.
The opposition continues to wonder why Marcos is still popular. This is so because they continued to use Apo Lakay as the bogeyman for their failures. He is their convenient excuse. The electoral fraud which deprived BBM of the Vice-Presidency has reinforced his underdog image. This is no different from the outcome of the ouster of Erap, the Hello Garci scandal which bedeviled GMA’s “victory ” over FPJ in 2004, the end product of which is Grace Poe.
MLQ3 is wrong in diagnosing the Pinoy as suffering from Stockholm syndrome. Rather, the Filipino is merely making a judgment; the Yellowidiots did nothing to improve our lives in thirty year while Marcos at least did something in twenty. It can be said that Duterte paved the way for the Marcos restoration.
It’s always convenient for Libertards like MLQ3 to cite the weakening of institutions as an excuse for their failures. As my friend Data Chimp opines, weak men are more inclined to be liberals because they’re condoned instead of being bullied. Real men tend to be conservatives and get the job done no matter what it takes. MLQ3 now complains about power falling into the wrong hands of the feudal lords.
But, pray tell, isn’t this the essence of democracy, in the Philippine context, to begin with?
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