It is not difficult to believe that when the members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission (Con-Com) started overhauling our fundamental law, they had in their collective minds Utopia, the writings of Sir Thomas More on the ideals of government and law as well the Buddhist spiritual concept of Nirvana as maybe applied to society in general. I have not read though from the portions of the Con-Com recorded proceedings that I have perused over specific references to attempting to create a utopian state out of the ruins that the regime of Ferdinand Marcos wrought on our country. But I am certain of their patriotic dreams and visions of building a nation for us as they crafted our constitution out of the brilliance of the minds and the noblest of their intentions.
The principle against the establishment of political dynasties if and when fully attained is not unlike what More and the Buddhists conceived. The Con-Com delegates must have thought of preventing the few rich and powerful families from gaining almost total control of the reins of government and conversely of providing the less privileged citizens opportunities to lead. That was plausibly the main reason they wrote such principle into our charter as a prelude for future legislators to pass implementing statute. It has been more than three decades since the anti-political dynasty precept found its way into our constitution and (not but) we are still waiting for a substantive law containing the details of its implementation. In the meantime, the ideal has somehow been eroded by the vagaries of time, if not by some realistic and practical perceptions on how governance should really take form.
This anti-political dynasty concept is supposedly less a political issue in Talisay City and Cebu’s first congressional district where a Gullas is a city mayor and a congressman. The constituencies in this part of the province seem contented with the way the Gullases administer. It is also supposedly a non-issue this coming May 2019 elections in Bogo City because the voters there are apparently satisfied by the service of a Martinez mayor and Martinez vice mayor. From these two examples, we can deduce that the electors there would not mind being governed by a service oriented family.
Lapu-Lapu City is also supposedly a local government unit where political dynasty is as unimportant to the populace as it is in Talisay City and Bogo City. Observers outside of Lapu-Lapu, including me, have seen the growth and development of the city under the care of the Radaza administrators. With the husband, Arturo “Boy” Ompad Radaza and the wife, Paz Corro Radaza taking turns as mayor, they have transformed the city into a dynamic place. Of course, the attendant traffic jams have to be admitted as part of sudden surge of the former Opon to its present identity as a historic resort city under the rule of the Radaza’s. It looked to me that the residents of Lapu-Lapu City have acknowledged the Radaza brand of leadership that in the previous elections they have entrusted their government to this family and the political dynasty issue did not gain any ground.
In the coming May 2019 polls, the scene may appear a little differently in Mactan Island. This early the opposition in Lapu-Lapu City, in an attempt to stain the successful steering by the Radazas, of the city affairs, seems to drum up political dynasty as an issue. It is an idealistic concept and as such it is so timeless that it can be raised anytime. This is theoretically a valid point to raise, especially if there is nothing else.
I am told that the patriarch of the political family of neighboring Cordova town, a lawyer-friend of mine, is pushing this propaganda. When this issue is exposed to the city electorate as being engineered by him, it can easily boomerang on its planner, he having himself set up a political dynasty of sort. I will then be saddened that the political ideal i have been lecturing in my Constitutional Law shall have lost its real value thru its selective application by politicians.