The Criminalization of Politicians in the Philippines

The number of murder cases on the eve of national elections is mounting. Recently, the mayor of Rizal, Cagayan in northern Luzon was shot dead by still unknown assailants. This literally hits home, as I grew up in Piat, which is a nearby town.

Looking closely at the political dynamics, one can easily see how politicians—despite their best and noble intentions—are criminalized. This paper aims to analyze the factors that lead to these violent electoral dynamics and urges voters to be critical when they decide whom to vote for in the upcoming elections.

Introduction

The structural conditions of a village—or even a town, city, or province—serve as fertile grounds for this criminalization process. These conditions induce the creation of “criminogenic” narratives that rationalize a politician’s behavior.

Much like a criminal, a politician can easily justify the use of violence and other corrupt practices as part of his or her trade. As these practices become regularized and normalized, a subculture of corruption and violence develops.

Collectively, local politicians are then socialized into this subculture. They must become familiar with its unstated rules and learn to navigate it shrewdly to maintain political longevity. The longer they cling to their political careers, the more fully they become criminalized. This political dynamic, in turn, helps perpetuate the structural conditions in local villages, towns, cities, and provinces.

Structural Conditions

The structural conditions of poverty and social inequality, political ignorance among the electorate, and the inherent weaknesses of the electoral and criminal justice systems in the country provide a plethora of criminogenic narratives that can be employed by local politicians.

First, with 25% of the adult population unemployed, the incidence of hunger and homelessness affects a large portion of the electorate. Coupled with their lack of education, local politicians know full well that if they don’t buy the votes of the electorate, other politicians will. This is similar to the narrative of a drug dealer: “If I don’t deal drugs, someone else will.”

Second, the sporadic and haphazard implementation of election laws and the selective, particularistic application of the criminal justice system provide politicians with legally cynical narratives. For example, they understand that “it is okay to break the law as long as you don’t get caught—and if you do, you can bribe your way out.”

They know that access to higher-level dispensers of political power is key. They may have election cheating charges filed against them, only to be dismissed by sympathetic Comelec officers with whom they have cultivated relationships, or a murder charge dropped by prosecutors or judges who are friendly to their cause.

Local politicians are well aware that they must project an image of law-abiding, rule-following public servants. The shrewdest among them hire the best lawyers, accountants, and media propagandists to counter attacks from rival politicians. Yet, like a drug syndicate, they will not hesitate to employ the same criminal tactics to discredit their opponents—filing electoral and criminal charges, harassing supporters, and even physically liquidating rivals—if the opportunity arises.

Thus, local politicians develop a dual acumen: the ability to project a formal narrative as pro-poor, anti-corruption public servants, while simultaneously employing an informal, Machiavellian logic that justifies any tactic necessary to win the next election.

Metamorphosis

This is not to say that all local politicians engage in these tactics. Many young upstart politicians still cling to principled politics. But like criminals, politicians undergo a metamorphosis in their moral and criminal careers.

Some enter politics with sincere intentions to serve. However, they soon discover that staying in power may require engaging in informal, hidden, even criminal methods. Honest politicians rarely get elected—or re-elected. As a result, they may resort to generating income from both legal and illegal sources to fund the next campaign. They may form temporary alliances with political crooks who offer the best chance of staying in office and who will defend them when their equally crooked opponents launch exposés. They may lobby for the appointment of police chiefs who will shield them from future “political harassment.”

They eventually realize that these tactics may be necessary—just to stay in power.

This process becomes self-selective. Those who cannot stomach the game leave and rediscover the peace of civilian life. Those who remain degenerate into hardened political crooks, replicating themselves by grooming their next of kin and inventing more criminogenic narratives to justify their hold on power.

They’ll claim, “This building was constructed by the political dynasty of so-and-so,” building a narrative that their family is pro-poor and anti-corruption. In reality, they deprive the poor of real services while further entrenching themselves in corrupt politics.

Philippine Politics

This is the bleak landscape of Philippine politics—where black propaganda, vote-buying, cheating, and violence are the norm. It has become so personalized that politicians even kill their own siblings upon defeat. It systematically corrupts the best and the brightest. It has developed a subculture where corruption and violence are not anomalies—they are facts of life. In turn, it keeps people ignorant and poor, and renders the electoral and criminal justice systems ever more compromised.

Like the criminal life, political life is thrilling and seductive. It has its allure. Like drug dealers flaunting flashy cars and seductive partners, politicians occupy front-row seats at the most exclusive nightclubs. They are socially celebrated. They become godparents at weddings.

The sad truth is this: politicians are criminalized, and they don’t even know it. Like criminals, they are unaware that they are slowly but surely selling their souls to the devil.

And like criminals, they often view themselves as victims when their careers collapse. They never admit that they willingly participated in their own demise.

Advice to voters: Choose your candidates wisely. If you see telltale signs of criminal behavior, do not vote for them. The violence will haunt us all in the end.