In no uncertain terms, the Supreme Court has of late stepped in to remind both Senate and House of their responsibility to enact an implementing law. With this development, people’s hopes soared that the constitutional ban on political dynasties will finally be realized. I hate to disappoint, but I am seeing a dreadful possibility that an implementing law, by itself, will not stop political dynasties from exclusively bear-hugging political power in the country.
It’s hard to believe political dynasties, exclusive members of both Senate and House, will be quick to commit political suicide. An implementing law will end their monopoly of elective positions. Expect them, therefore, to enact a law they can easily bend or run circles around. Expect them also to take their sweet time debating and revising such a law. It’s anybody’s guess how long it will take them to come up with it.
Yet, even if by a miracle of sorts, they are able to formulate a strictly implementable law, there remains an escape route that leads to a place where political dynasties can continue ruling this country in the inequitable way that favors not the people’s but their interests. There’s nothing in our unfree, undemocratic and money-denominated election system that stops them from underwriting the election of political puppets.
Unless radically reformed by a concomitant law, our election system allows the very rich to fund the campaign of proxy candidates who will win and rule on their behalf and according to their wishes. In our election system that almost totally depends on money, you have to be filthy rich to run and win. You need money for television, radio and print ads, money to transport and feed voters, money to hire watchers, money to bribe Comelec officials, money to buy the computer program and money to buy votes. Hence, until money is completely taken out of our election system by strictly implementing a law for that purpose, the rich can continue to rule us with their proxies or puppets.
Implementing the constitutional ban on political dynasties is not predicated on a law alone. Actually, even without a law, the ban can be put into effect if our elections were free, fair and truly democratic. But the opposite is also true. Even with such a law, if our election system remains denominated by money, only rich political dynasties and/or their proxy candidates can continue to run and win in our elections.
Moreover, the marginalized labor-farmer sector needs a political party to have a voice in government. But until a law certifies political parties as public institutions the formation of which is subsidized by the government as is done in progressive countries, only the rich can form political parties which in fact is the prevailing unchallenged national reality. They alone have the machinery and the money to win in our big joke of an undemocratic, unfree and corrupt system of elections.
Bottom line … for the constitutional ban on political dynasties to take effect, more than an implementing law is needed. The election system must be completely revised and money taken out of the equation … at the very least. Otherwise, we are back to square one.