Crusade vs political dynasties launched

A little-known contractor who has convinced election officials he is not a “nuisance” candidate for senator has his eyes set on ending political dynasties.

Ricardo Penson, 60, on Monday launched in a news conference what he called Krusada Kontra Dynasty, or Kontra, and challenged fellow senatorial candidates to sign a pact that would end a few families’ dominance of the country’s political landscape.

The president and CEO of Ausphil Tollways Corp., a proponent of the Katipunan (C5)-La Mesa-San Jose del Monte-Norzagaray tollway project, urged like-minded groups, the Catholic Church and individuals to join his movement.

Penson said he was strongly against dynasts as they are involved in “unprincipled party-switching” or “turncoatism” for convenience, reducing political parties to nothing more than a vehicle for the ambitions of powerful political clans.

“Dynasties provide a clout to amass more wealth to secure enduring political power wherein such wealth coupled with traditional politics of patronage gives its members, no matter how unqualified, incontestable edge,” he said.

Penson was one of the five candidates allowed to participate in the Senate derby after they were able to convince the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in a hearing last month that they were not “nuisance” candidates and they had the capacity to launch a nationwide campaign.

“As our crusade flourishes, we will be able to strengthen the belief that ordinary people can do what our lawmakers cannot do,” said Penson, whose mother is a second cousin of Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Lagdameo Jr.’s father.

It is time for Filipino voters to realize that there is no need for a lawmaker to share the small chambers of the Senate or Congress with a sister or a brother, he said.

“Let us not be party to a mechanism to provide legitimacy to a select few, an illusion of change every three years. If we allow them to prosper again, expect the present and future congresses to be mere rubber stamps to favor oligarchs and the corporate elite they serve,” he added.

In the covenant he signed and sent to the 31 other senatorial aspirants, Penson urged the candidates to commit to genuine democratic reform and vow to abandon personal motives in favor of the public good.

Dynasty candidates

The pact also exhorted all senatorial candidates to work for the enactment of a law prohibiting political dynasties, citing Article 2, Section 26 of the Constitution, which provides that “the State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

The covenant also said that the signatories who failed to craft and pass an enabling law banning dynasties would mean their resignation from the Senate.

“Do away with political dynasties and we begin a future with positive and constructive steps to people empowerment,” said Penson.

The majority of senatorial contenders from the Liberal Party-led ruling coalition and the United Nationalist Alliance are considered part of political families.

Among them are President Aquino’s cousin Bam and his aunt Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco; Vice President Jejomar Binay’s daughter, Nancy; Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile’s son, Jackie; Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s half-brother, JV; Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, Senators Alan Peter Cayetano and Koko Pimentel, Cynthia Villar, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Zambales Rep. Mitos Magsaysay and former Sen. Jun Magsaysay.