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The
Philippines has always had some of the most colourful personalities around
the world.
Elite who are born to rule Philippines -- with
a touch of showbiz
When the people of the Philippines go to the polls on
May 10 they will not only be electing a new president but a legislature of
the rich and powerful who have little or nothing in common with them,
according to the findings of a two-year study.
The study, called 'The Rulemakers' and published
by the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) this week,
found today's congressmen and senators are richer, better-educated and
better-connected than the society they represent.
But where it was once family, land and money that
guaranteed access to power, in the modern Philippines it is increasingly
celebrity that counts, the study showed.
Sheila Coronel, director of the PCIJ and
coordinator of the project, said the legislature had always been the bastion
of the wealthy and the profiles of those who rule and those who are ruled
could not be "more unmatched" in a country of 84 million mainly
poor people.
"The great majority of (the legislators) are
also part of families whose members have been in public office for two or
more generations," the study said.
"A Congress of well-connected well-born
multi-millionaires set the rules for a poor nation," it added.
The study found the average net worth of the 224
Congressmen in the 12th House of Representatives (2001-2004) was 22 million
pesos (392,507 dollars) compared with 20.5 million in the 11th House
(1998-2001).
But the 24-member Senate is where the real money
is made. According to the study, the average net worth of a Senator in the
2001-2004 Senate was 59.35 million pesos compared with 33 million
(1998-2001).
According to the Philippines Development Policy
Update, released by the World Bank last October, 51 percent of the
population live on less than two US dollars a day.
The study found that there had been some
"noticeable changes" in the make-up of the legislature since the
downfall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.
One change has been in the House of
Representatives. When the first House met in 1946 there was one woman, today
women make up 18 percent of the House.
Coronel said today's legislators tend to be
better-educated and the sources of their wealth are more diverse. Congress,
she said, is no longer a landlord-dominated legislature, but mirrors the
increased influence of the business elite and upper professional classes.
Coronel said the organising principles of
legislative life, however, has not changed and "it is still a struggle
for spoils."
"Rarely do long-term national interests and
development goals figure in the equation," she said.
Pork-barrelling -- the practice of giving each
congressman a large sum of money for his district that he can spend however
he sees fit without accounting for it -- has increased, with funds often
being used to win votes, Coronel said.
But it is in the Senate, a stepping stone to the
presidency, where the significant changes have occurred -- with celebrity
replacing wealth as a major factor.
According to the study the Senate had "always
been the more elite and the more exclusive House," with entry
traditionally reserved for wealthy men, landowners or businessmen.
"In 1962 some 70 percent of the Senators came
from parents with extensive wealth. In the last Senate nine members were
either celebrities or married to celebrities, two were pre-Marcos
legislators, one a former Marcos cabinet minister, four post-Marcos cabinet
ministers, four post-Marcos congressmen, one businessman and three former
military and police officers. - AFP
Yahoo!
2004 March 38
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