By:

D’ Rafael Vittorio P. Cueto

MEB14

In Partial Fulfillment 
of the Requirements for
Mga Babasahin Hinggil Sa Kasaysayan Ng Pilipinas

Submitted to:

Jumel Estrañero

Baby Thesis
De Lasalle University - Dasmariñas

Political Dynasties: The Philippine’s Hidden Monarchies

 I. INTRODUCTION
Since early times, government systems have helped several nations to achieve stability by
providing order. Government is an organization, which are based regionally or nationally, that
legally makes decisions which affects the people and enterprises that it oversees (Kosarko et al.,
2010; Wolman et al., 2008). According to National Geographic (n.d.), there are various types of
government like: monarchy, autocracy, democracy, and communism. Around the world,
democracy is the most used form of government with 57% of countries using it while 28%
utilizes a combination of democracy and autocracy, another form of government, as their
government, lastly 13% only uses autocracy (Desilver, 2019). The Philippines included is a
democratic country, more specifically a democratic republic country.

A democratic government is a type of government in which the citizens can participate in

deciding the next representatives of the state (Parliamentary Education Office, n.d.). In the
Philippines and several other countries alike, the citizens participation is through voting or
elections which are scheduled differently depending on the nation. But in the Philippines, the
people have the tendency to vote candidates with familiar, popular, and similar surnames putting
them in power for long periods of time, which gives rise to political dynasties. A political
dynasty happens when family members either holds the same political positions for consecutive
years or when they are elected to hold different positions in the same term, this is commonly
seen in poverty-stricken places (Mendoza et al., 2013). The occurrence of political dynasties can
be compared to monarchies in which the position is passed on to a newer generation within the
same family (Merriam-Webster, n.d.).

The Philippine government though realizes that political dynasties are a problem and should
be prevented and quickly abolished, there is no current law which prohibits the formation of
political dynasty. Although there is the 1987 constitution which imposes term limits and
prohibits political dynasties, a law must be passed for it to be enacted (AN ACT PROHIBITING
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF POLITICAL DYNASTIES). Because of the lack of law, the rise
of political dynasties is kept unchecked and is still dominating the Philippine political scene.
 II. BODY
Political Dynasties can be divided into two categories, fat, and thin dynasties. A political
dynasty can be considered as a thin dynasty when family members succeed each other in a
certain position like being the Governor or Mayor. On the other hand, when there are multiple
family members elected, in different positions in the same office it will then be considered as a
fat dynasty (Ylagan, 2018).

Figure 1. Thin VS. Fat Dynasties

Source: (Mendoza et al, 2019)

In the Philippines there are several political dynasties present and are still a big part in
politics. In a report in 2013 about political dynasties it is said that in the Philippines there are
about 178 active political dynasties making the country the hotspot for political dynasties this is
according to the late Miriam Defensor Santiago (Mendez, 2013). Some of the well-known
political dynasties in the country today that are still active are the: Dutertes, Marcoses, and
Revillas.

Figure 2. President Rodsrigo Roa Duterte Figure 3. Former Senator Bong Bong Figure 4. [Untitled Illustration of the
poses for a photo with the first family Marcos, Sandro Marcos, and former first Revilla Family]
after delivering his third State of the lady Imelda Marcos during her 90th
Nation Address (SONA) birthday celebration on July 1, 2019

Source: (Rodriguez, 2018) Source: (Calvelo, 2019) Source: (Facebook)

 Political Dynasties: in the Philippine National Politics (Senators, Vice-Presidents, and
Presidents)

The percentage of senators who came from political dynasties are observed to be highest
during the 13th congress with 91% or 21 out of 23 of senators being a part of a political dynasty.
Second, is the 15th congress with 87% of senators coming from political dynasties. Third, is the
14th congress with 86% of senators are part of political dynasties. Fourth, is the 16 th congress
with 83% of senators being a part of political dynasties. Fifth, is the 12 th congress with 75% of
the senate coming from political dynasties. Sixth, is the 17 th congress where 73% of the senators
came from political dynasties. Seventh, is the 19th congress with 70% of senators coming from
political dynasty. Eight, is the 18th congress that has 66% of its senators being a part of a political
dynasty, Ninth, is the 11th congress where 62% of its senators came from political dynasties.
Tenth, is the 9th congress with 50% of its senators having ties with a political dynasty. Eleventh,
is the 8th congress having 45% of the senators being a part of political dynasties. Lastly, the 10 th
congress with lowest number of senators coming from political dynasties after the Marcos
dictatorship with only having 41% or 10 out of 24 senators being a part of a political dynasty.

Figure 5. Percentage of Senators that came from Political Dynasties (8th – 19th congress)
 While the percentage of vice presidents who came from political dynasties is 75% or 6
out of 8. And only 25% or 2 out of the 8 vice presidents did not come from a political dynasty
which are former Vice Presidents Noli De Castro and Atty. Leni Robredo.

Figure 6. Percentage of Vice Presidents from Political Dynasties (1987 - 2022)

Percentage of Vice Presidents from Political Dynasties

25%

75%

From Politcal Dynasties Not From Political Dynasties

On the other hand, the percentage of presidents coming from political dynasties in the years
1987-2022 is observed to be at 100% or 6 out of 6 presidents. This data shows that all elected
presidents after the passing of the 1987 constitution are connected to a political dynasty. With 2
out of 6 presidents being directly related with each other.

Figure 7. Percentage of President that came from Political Dynasties (1987 - 2022)

Percentage of Presidents from Political Dynasties

100%

From Political Dynasties

 III. ANALYSIS
In the data showed in figure 5 it is observed that, it was in the 10 th congress that the presence
of political dynasty was at its lowest with only 41% or 10 out of the 24 senators being a part of
political dynasty. But after the 10th congress it can be seen that the number of senators that were
parts of political dynasty are in a rising trend. And it was in the 13 th congress that the presence of
political dynasty in the senate is at its highest with 91% or 21 out of 23 senators are a part of a
political dynasty. Although the trend of the rise of political dynasties after the 13 th congress is
going down and is currently staying between 60% – 90%, they still comprise more than half of
the senate, this can be a problem since it can affect the representation of various Filipino
communities such as the diverse Filipino ethnic groups, persons with disabilities, and other
minorities.

On the other hand, among the former and current vice presidents 75% or 6 out of 8 of them
came from political dynasties. While only 25% or 2 out of 8 did not come from political
dynasties (see Figure 6). Additionally, during the past 35 years 100% or 8 out of 8 of those who
became presidents came from well-known political dynasties, such as the Aquino, Duterte, and
Marcos families (see Figure 7). The strong presence of political dynasties in both the President
and Vice President positions lead with people of the same families passing the positions onto
each other. This can be notably seen when two Aquinos were voted to become presidents,
namely Corazon Aquino and Benigno Aquino.

The presence of multiple political dynasties in the senatorial, vice president, and president
positions can be contributed to the lack of law restricting political dynasties from running
consecutively or together. Although there is the 1987 constitution where it imposes term limits to
restrict political dynasties it is not enough since political families has found a way to evade the
law (Mendoza et al., 2019). Another reason is that the 1987 constitution needs a law to be
enacted and currently there is no law which prohibits the formation of political dynasties ((AN
ACT PROHIBITING THE ESTABLISHMENT OF POLITICAL DYNASTIES).
 IV. RECOMMENDATION

The study conducted is only limited to online resources i.e., websites, online articles, and
academic journals that are published online. The study only covered the years 1987-2022 for the
data collected which make it limited to thoroughly observe the of the political dynasties. The
study is also limited with only the national positions and did not consider the local positions such
as the governors, vice governors, and mayors. In future studies, researchers should be mindful of
the following: (1) Use a variety of sources to collect more data regarding elected officials, (2)
Include the elected officials that was before Cory Aquinos regime (1986-1992) for more accurate
data, (3) include the local government in the study for detailed comparisons, and (4) include the
relations of each officials for a more detailed visualization of each political dynasty.

V. CONCLUSION AND WAY AHEAD

As shown and discussed, the study concludes that political dynasties still have a strong
foothold within the country’s government system. This is evident with the high percentage of
politicians in the senatorial, vice presidential, and presidential positions that are part of political
dynasties. With the presence of political dynasties becoming stronger in our government new
political dynasties are starting to emerge and old ones are coming back to participate in politics.
If this continues political dynasty will become a big problem in the future since the governmental
positions in the future might just be passed into family members.

To combat this the Philippines needs a law which can enact the 1987 constitution to restrict
the formation of political dynasties and give fair chance to other politicians who are willing to
serve the country. Voter literacy must also be improved for the people to be more informed while
voting and so that they can vote those who are ready to serve the nation.

VI. MESSAGE
This is a short message dedicated to our professor, Sir Jumel G. Estrañero. First of all I
would like to thanks you for allowing us to be more confident in expressing our own views,
ideologies, principles, and opinions. Second, we are very grateful to you for being so passionate
in your teaching and giving us time despite your busy and hectic schedule. Lastly, thank you for
exposing us and letting us understand the Philippine history in a deeper sense.
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