The politics of succession

The Mangudadatu family of Maguindanao, once portrayed in the media as the underdog to their rival, the Ampatuan family that perpetrated the now infamous Maguindanao massacre, is not so, well, saintly.

The Mangudadatus are far from being saints. They are also accused of murdering their political rivals.

Mayor Khadaffe Mangudadatu of Pandag, Maguindanao was arrested recently and is being held without bail for the murder of Abdullah Ligawan and his wife Lala in October 2010. Also charged with murder is Zajid Mangudadatu.

The suspected motive for the set of alleged murders is politics.

Khadaffe and Zajid are brothers of former Maguindanao Gov. Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu, whose wife, Genalyn, was one of the victims of the Maguindanao massacre.

Genalyn, accompanied by supporters and media people, was on her way to file her husband’s certificate of candidacy for Maguindanao governor when they were waylaid.

Toto apparently foresaw that Andal Ampatuan Jr., his potential rival for the governorship, would do the unimaginable to prevent him from filing his candidacy.

So, Toto had Mrs. Mangudadatu go to the office of the Commission on Elections, accompanied by media people, thinking that they would not be touched.

Toto Mangudadatu knew the Ampatuans only too well because he happens to be related to Andal Sr., the Ampatuan patriarch.

If he had an inkling that the Ampatuans were waiting for Genalyn’s convoy, why did Toto Mangudadatu still allow his wife and others to proceed with that ill-fated expedition?

By the way, Mangudadatu was elected governor in 2010, because of the Maguindanao massacre.

With the Ampatuans serving time in the New Bilibid Prisons for mass murder, the Mangudadatus are assured of power for a long, long time.

The people in Maguindanao have been thrown from the frying pan into the fire.

*      *      *

Maguindanao doesn’t hold the monopoly on the politics of succession; it is universal to the entire country.

Elective office is like a royal title, handed down from parent to offspring, or from sibling to sibling.

Siblings of a political dynasty in Metro Manila were pitted against each other for the mayoralty and washed all their dirty family linen in public.

In a campaign rally, the father, a prominent political figure, looked on helplessly, unable to pacify the siblings on the same stage during a campaign rally.

One of the siblings won, even if there was another person who ran for the same office.

Filipino voters don’t find political dynasties anomalous; they even perpetrate it.

If we were to grade the political maturity of Filipino voters from 1 to 10 – with 10 being the highest – it would be a dismal “2.”

*      *      *

Political dynasties are banned in the Cory Aquino Constitution.

However, no enabling law has been passed for the ban to be implemented properly.

Congressmen/women and senators don’t want to preside over the death of their family dynasties.

*      *      *

In 2011, the late senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago filed Senate Bill 2649, which sought to prohibit political dynasties.

The irrepressible Maid Miriam’s bill would have forbidden:

• Relatives of an incumbent elected official, up to the second degree of consanguinity, to run for public office in the same election.

• Relatives of up to the second degree of consanguinity of an incumbent elected national official to run in an election.

The first degree of consanguinity includes father, mother, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.

The second degree of consanguinity includes grandparents, grandchildren, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces and half siblings.

The bill also sought to prohibit relatives of an incumbent from succeeding them in their elected positions. The exceptions are for the positions of punong barangay (chairman) and sangguniang barangay (kagawad).

In 2016, House Speaker and Quezon City Rep. Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte filed House Bill 166, or the Anti-Political Dynasty Act seeking to prohibit the proliferation of political clans in the Philippines.

Santiago and Belmonte’s bills – and others after theirs – are still pending in both houses of Congress.

*      *      *

Statistics show that in the years 1995 to 2007, an average of 31.3 percent of congressmen and 23.1 percent of governors were replaced by relatives.

In the 1995 elections, of the 83 congressmen elected to their third term, 36 of them were replaced by relatives in the succeeding elections.

A study conducted in 2012 by economists Edsel Beja Jr., Ronald Mendoza, Victor Venida and David Yap showed that 40 percent of all provinces in the Philippines have a provincial governor and congressman that are related in some way.

Another study done by Pablo Querubin of the Department of Politics in New York University indicated that an estimated 50 to 70 percent of all politicians are involved in or associated with a political dynasty within the Philippines, including local government units.

*      *      *

The newly appointed commissioner of immigration, lawyer Norman Garcera Tansingco, is not a newcomer to the Bureau of Immigration.

He will bring to his office 10 years of experience as the chief of staff of former Immigration Commissioner Marcelino Libanan, who’s now the House minority leader representing the 4Ps party-list.

Tansingco, who’s also a certified public accountant, was a concurrent member of the immigration bureau’s inquiry board during Libanan’s time.

Because of his position in the inquiry board, Tansingco knows the modus operandi of corrupt immigration personnel.

Unlike some of his fellow appointees in other government bureaus, Tansingco has an immaculately clean record.