Family based Philippines political dynasties threatening democracy in the large island nation

Democracy, elections, and voting at Democracy Chronicles

Dynastic rule tightens grip on Philippines

The Ampatuan clan was never going to be thrown out of power, despite being accused of killing 58 people, including 32 members of the media in one of the worst massacres in modern Philippine history. The latest count in the country’s mid-term elections has family members, including three wives of senior clan figures, who are facing murder charges, winning 19 local government positions.

The women were elected town mayors while 16 other family members were elected vice-mayors and councillors in Maguindanao, a Muslim-dominated southern province, deepening fears that justice may never be served in the 2009 killings that prosecutors say were a bid to quash a rival’s challenge to become governor.

Another Benigno Aquino is set to become one of the Philippines’ most powerful politicians next week thanks to his name, part of what analysts warn is an increasingly destructive system of dynastic rule. The 36-year-old nephew and namesake of the current president is one of the front-runners to be elected. Read more: https://www.smh.com.au/world/dynasties-tighten-grip-on-philippines-20130521-2jy0u.html#ixzz3D919nFWc

Also from the Ellen Tordesillas article “Cory gave Ampatuan patriarch his break”:

It’s interesting how the Ampatuan clan’s political fortunes seem to be turning full circle—and how political camps that now call them “monsters” seem to have conveniently forgotten that they had something to do with how these “monsters” were bred to begin with. Liberal Party presidential bet Aquino, sure that violence in Maguindanao would escalate due to “this administration’s inaction,” is demanding the suspension of Mayor Andal Ampatuan Jr. and other local officials found involved in the November 23 massacre of civilians.