All in the family: Philippine dynasties tighten grip on power

"This is how politics is here," Keon said in his office, surrounded by photos of the Marcos clan, including the patriarch. "Family is paramount."

There are more than a few politicos here nodding along with the same tune…

Benito Mussolini's granddaughter got into the Italian Senate. Juan Peron's widow became a female fascist dictator of Argentina. Baby Doc Duvalier of Haiti superseded Papa Doc. I remember when Baby Doc was overthrown, Ferdinand Marcos was toppled at about the same time.

It's so sad that the people of PI can't seem to remember what a bastard Ferdinand was. Family dynasties are nothing but trouble. And may I refer you to Kimbo of NK, a Communist twat in a family dynasty? He's the grandson of NK's first Communist dictator.

The ruling dynastic families of the Philippines employing hired goons as an adjunct to their control of corrupt military and police have devised a traditional recipe of terror and violence , inducing fear and passivity in the mass of citizens who are protected only by their ignorance and gullibility. The result of the citizens' political asphyxiation and paralysis leads every election cycle to the "Groundhog Day" installation of a brutal thuggocracy covered by the fig leaf of the superficial trappings of democracy, in reality a sham, that the hypocritical self-styled "international community" can greenlight and give a nod and a wink to. It's a sad fate indeed for the gaslit people of the islands to be in thrall to this matrix of misery enforced by their corrupt, homicidal ruling class.

Maybe if the majority stopped praying for change and actually started voting for change things might get better.

Moskollo..

The only way to end the nepotism is to make it law that once in power the next two generations are banned from any type of office..

You mean just like it is in the USA and Japan..... ho..ho..

Great article highlighting a huge problem in Filipino politics-the youngest mayor in the country is 21, the son of the ex mayor. The only way to end the nepotism is to make it law that once in power the next two generations are banned from any type of office..

Not a word about Benigno Aquino, who was assassinated by Fedinand Marcos, his wife Corazon Aquino nor their children! You'd think Duterte and the Marcos family, as corrupt as they have been were/are the only ones that have power there. That said, the people there don't seem to want a real democracy.

Wait a minute, NOT only in the Philippines, it is in every Non Democratic nation where the rich rules. even in democratic nations it almost happened in the USA and it could happen again.

Many of the electorate are extremely gullible and will unquestioningly follow obviously corrupt politicians. Maybe their devotion to the Catholic church is at least partly to blame for this.