Real Talk

Understanding Political Dynasties As a Family

by Kevyn Gohu
February 10, 2022

Political Dynasties are families just like we are but with a more political environment.

Based on the Anti Political Dynasty Act (or Senate Bill No. 2649), political dynasties are families that have been in government positions for years. They have a long history to boast of relatives being in high positions of power. Be it Vice President, President, etc. — these families would swap out relatives. The relatives are then endorsed and entrusted by the leaving relative to continue whatever projects and things they could not finish during their term.

Understanding their dynamics

Just like us, political dynasties have their own dynamics as a family. It usually starts when a relative obtains a seat in the government. And with that seat, there’s power, connections, and opportunities to climb the social ladder. As Filipinos, we have strong family ties and love to share our blessings with our relatives. This doesn’t extend to just food and money. But it also involves opportunities for big career jumps and more business opportunities for the entrepreneurs in the family.

And for those in the business sector, we know that we have to be opportunistic at times. We can all agree that getting an endorsement from a politician is one of the fastest and easiest ways to expedite the growth of one’s business. Either them, or a highly influential celebrity. We will use whatever’s within our access to make our business prosper so that the money earned from endorsement can create a better future for our kids.

Children in Political Dynasties

Unless told otherwise, children from political dynasties are more prone to joining the political scene. At a young age, they are influenced by the political environment. Under the guise of a friendly get-together, the children are exposed to many politicians. There is also discourse to understanding the political dialogues spread throughout the home. The exchanges subtly and slowly influence the children because that’s the environment they grew up in. It’s a form of Pavlov’s classical conditioning especially when parents praise the children in trying to understand what they deem as “grown-up talk”.

However, there are some political families that take conscious actions to keep the kids out of the scene. Some political dynasties would rather keep the work in the office. Their home is their safe haven where they can ignore the ongoing mind games and not be a government official. They can just be a loving father or mother to their children.

It can swing both ways

Unfortunately, political dynasties have less room for error in comparison to a regular family. If things go south for that politician, it will too for those who share their name. If it goes well then, it will also go well. There’s very little room for a middle ground for these families. We can only imagine the pressure that they — both the parents and the kids — have to go through and what mind games they have to play to keep their sanity and their morality.