A nation of waiters

The Philippine Constitution of 1987 contains a provision the directs the Legislative Department to pass an anti-political  dynasty measure. Article !!, Section 26 provides: The State shall guarantee  equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be provided by law. After nearly four decades of existence, the Philippine Congress had not yet passed the measure mandated by the Constitution.

The Filipino people are accustomed to waiting, and it can be said that we are good waiters. We wait for almost everything in our lives – from the correction of the spelling our names in our birth certificates to the correction of our names in our death certificates.  The latter is no longer our worry, but the worry of those who waited for us to finally die. 

But the time between waiting for our corrected birth and death certificates is an interregnum of some seventy years of we’re lucky and in-between these two milestones we have to live our lives waiting, one of which is the wait for an anti-political dynasty bill.  

Methinks that our wait will not be over soon, simply because the dynastic political powers are expected to craft the bill that will negate their family’s grip on politics in their barangay, district, province, region or country.  How can we expect the wielders of present-day powers to clip their own wings. Can we expect the bees to cut their access to the nectar of political flowers? Can we expect thieves to cut their own hands?  Can we expect Dracula to manage the blood bank for those in emergency rooms needing blood transfusion?

Maybe that would be expecting too much.  Thus it may well be that the reform that we seek and need come from outside the present political milieu.  This is one issue that should properly be taken through the People’s Initiative provision of the Constitution.  It is high time for the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, the civil society groups, and various civic and religious leaders to take the cause of finally crafting the anti-dynasty bill.  Love you, bye.