The President and Vice President of the Philippines are currently at war with each other in a feud that seeks to burn the entire nation. In 2021, Ferdinand Bong Bong Marcos formed an alliance with Sara Duterte in one of the most peculiar political match ups of the twenty-first century. They would go on to win the election in a landslide victory, but troubles started almost immediately, with Duterte citing “political toxicity” as one of the main reasons for her incompatibility within the Marcos cabinet. That incompatibility has grown into a full-blown rift, something that is further exacerbated by the fact that the two are scions to the biggest political families in the nation and, by extension, wield the resources to potentially impact the nation for the worse if their fighting isn’t resolved.
The hold that the various political families have over the Philippines’ political system is both incomparable and detrimental to the development of the country. It’s different from American political families, where, if fortunate, two members of the same family can ascend to the nation’s highest office, such as the Roosevelts and the Bushes. Rather, it is a system that has been forged with the intent to ensure the continued dominance of the same set of names. Families such as the Dutertes, the Marcos, the Ampatuans, and so many others have created and carved out the modern-day equivalents of duchies as they vie for control over the nation in an insulated political system that shoots down any chance of reform.
The collapse of the authoritarian Marcos regime through the 1986 People Power Revolution was one that was filled with optimism, promises for democracy, and the start of a new chapter for the Philippines. However, although the twenty-year-long dictatorship was rooted out and a renewal of democratic institutions was underway, there was a lack of substance when it came to knocking down the political elites which backed Marcos. The 26th section of the second article of the Constitution prohibited the existence of political dynasties and it gave the Filipino Congress the responsibility of defining what a political dynasty was. What was meant to be a clear and cut regulation was turned into nothing more than a flimsy sentence; the members of Congress belonged to a wide array of political dynasties and were thereby incentivized to not put a proper definition in order to retain their power. In doing so, they created a rigged system which halted future attempts to put a check on their power and allowed for their continued dominance over national politics.
Today, over 70% of elected officials have some connection to a prominent political dynasty. Whether it be the incumbent President Ferdinand Bong Bong Marcos, the only child of the autocratic leader Ferdinand, or Mayor Joy Belmonte of Quezon City, the scion to the Belmonte family, the same set of names pop up everywhere from the national all the way down to the municipal level. They are the beneficiaries of a system which their forefathers have created which gives incumbents access to a Scrooge McDuck-level of wealth to utilize as their campaign funds and a system of connections in areas such as telecommunications, media, networking, and so on, giving them further access to their voter base. This allows for their continued dominance in election after election, beating out any challenger who isn’t from a political dynasty and creating a system more akin to family feudalism under a veneer of democracy.
This system of political families duking it out for positions can be reflected in all layers of governance. One example is the recent 2025 gubernatorial elections for the Nueva Ecija province, a place that is so prominent for their rice production, they have the moniker of “The Rice Granary of the Philippines.” The incumbent governor, Aurelio Umali, was running for reelection against Virgilio Bote; his main tactics revolved around bringing up Umali’s involvement in an infamous funding misuse scandal. Yet Umali won just over 81% of the votes because he belonged to a family whose power base was in the Nueva Ecija region, thereby giving him both greater control over the region’s resources and the ability to overwhelm Bote’s. What’s interesting is the fact that Bote wasn’t a populist challenger who came from humble origins but rather that he too was a member of another political dynasty. This is a theme that’s common throughout elections across the Philippines. There is a disturbing lack of candidates that have no prior connections or lineage to a figure with political history making it harder for candidates with a lack of resources and connections.
Although in theory any Filipino citizen can rise to the nation’s highest office, it has become extremely difficult to penetrate a system that thrives on nepotism and only seeks to further enrich members who already have access to a greater quality of life than most of the population. Democracy may exist in the Philippines, but those who practice it are more interested in serving the interests of the few over the many. Instances such as the 2013 Pork Barrel Scam, in which billions of pesos dedicated to development projects were diverted the pockets of members of Congress, illustrate a great deficit in proper governance over the archipelago. Similarly, the 2009 Maguindinao Massacre may have led to the arrests of those responsible for the deaths of so many innocent people but it also showed the lengths incumbent officials would go to quench threats to their power.
Freedom House rates the Philippines as party-free on both their global and internet freedoms partly because of how little success there has been in destroying the power political dynasties have in the nation. Democratic institutions that were set up in order to have candidates require a popular mandate and represent their constituents have been warped to shield them from justice from corruption charges. That same system has been warped in order to prevent any meaningful reform to shake up internal politics and even successful efforts are poked with loop holes allowing for the continued reign of these political dynasties. What the Philippines faces isn’t a government that is receptive to their concerns, but a system of houses that feud over who has access to resources meant for the people.
As political dynasties continue to duke it out, the concerns of the average Filipino are further ignored. Democratic backsliding and stagnation will continue to occur unless a new page is turned in the history of the Philippines. Yet the way it’s looking, it’s going to take an act by an omnipotent being in order for a new chapter to be written. Until then, the general populace will have to endure being ignored by the same people that are supposed to represent them as they ward off challenges from other political dynasties to see who controls the Iron Throne in Manila.
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