Dynasty forever?

Is it true? Did Vice President Jejomar Binay really say that he wants the term of the president to be shortened to four years, but that there would be no limits to the number of times he is reelected? At first I thought that his plan would be a replication of what happened in Makati where, after serving as mayor for the full three terms, he fielded his wife for the position. After Mrs. Elenita Binay had also served her terms, again came back her husband, later to hand over the post to his junior, the incumbent, but suspended mayor of the city.

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Should we expect the same to happen, in case he does win the presidency? Will we see a succession of family members taking over and running the affairs of our country? Will it be Mrs. Binay next, then maybe Junjun, or Senator Nancy, and after her congresswoman Abigail? And, maybe after her, the Binay grandchildren who will be of voting age, or already qualified for the highest position, again? Is this what we will be seeing through the years, in case the tireless campaigner gets a hold of the office? Dynasty forever?

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No wonder the supposed Anti-Dynasty Bill that has been talked about for so long now has not made any progress so far. And, perhaps it never will, considering the number of dynastic members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate even now. Recently, President Aquino declared February 25, the anniversary of the historic EDSA bloodless revolution, a holiday. The justification was that EDSA was the great event that changed the course of our history. Some also say that what happened in EDSA restored democracy to our country.

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But did it, really? Was is to end up with our country being run by the same family or dynasty? Oh, we will go through the motions of campaigning, kuno, and holding elections, but will the true will of the people prevail with all the vote-buying, premature campaigning, and bribing of prospective voters years before an election? Will we ever have a Madame Roland who will cry: “Democracy! What anomalies are taking place in your name!”

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Several people told me they were terribly shocked to learn that Bacolod City had fallen so low in the rankings conducted by the National Competitiveness Council that aims to improve the competitiveness of local government units of the country. If I remember right, it was the Asian Institute of Management that had initiated this years ago. That was when our city, Bacolod, was always among the topnotchers, even making second place in 2010.

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But yesterday, the bombshell from the internet came through, and Bacolod, once respected as among the most competitive, had dropped to a shameful 73 rd place, which, even in the school grading system, is not a passing grade. Nakakahiya, they said. Why, I asked them, didn't you expect this? Unfortunately, one said, she thought ours was a “booming” city. Dear girl, I told her, maybe the boom you heard was from the fall when Number Two dropped to 73. That is quite a distance, you know.

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Meanwhile, other feedback I have been gathering involved the kind of language presidential wannabe Jejomar Binay used while, er, “visiting” the people of Negros Occidental and Bacolod City. How low does he think is the mentality and culture of Bacoleños, for him to crack jokes about women not wearing underwear, and men needing sex enhancement pills? A prim old lady said it for a lot of us: “Bastos gali sia (So he is that crude)”. Maybe he thought that would endear him to his audiences, and maybe he thinks we Negrenses and Bacoleños are also that crude.

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Now it is Iloilo that seems to be all agog over the holding of some sessions of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting that will be held in the Philippines. Maybe it will be more exciting in Iloilo, not as ho-hum as it had been in Bacolod City. They say that what the delegates remembered from our officials was only the announcement by one of them at their initial session that there are food establishments all over the place that was their venue, and also massage parlors where they could go when they got tired.*

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