HERE ARE THE REST of the election public service advertisements produced by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism with the theme of campaign finance reform. These ads are being distributed for free, so go ahead and post and share them in your social networks.
The ads feature both well-known personalities as well as citizens who want their voices heard. Those featured include actor Rocco Nacino, Ramon Bautista, the irreverent Boys Night Out, Lourd De Veyra, Kiefer Ravena, as well as taho and fishball vendors, a security guard, persons with disabilities, and a university professor.
THE PHILIPPINE CENTER FOR INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM (PCIJ) is proud to announce the broadcast of ANGKAN, INC., a special five-part documentary on the clans of Maguindanao as part of TV5′s Balwarte series on Sunday, April 28, at 10 p.m.
The documentary, produced by the PCIJ with the assistance of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Commission on Human Rights, takes a deeper look at the political, social, and economic influence of the various clans that have lorded over Maguindanao in the last few centuries. This influence is especially evident in the May 2013 elections, where at least 80 members of the Ampatuan clan are running for public office in various capacities, from town councilor to mayor. Senior members of the Ampatuan clan have been implicated in the 2009 Maguindanao massacre, where 58 people including 32 journalists were murdered in the worst case of election violence in the country.
But as the documentary shows, the case of the Ampatuans is not entirely unusual, as Maguindanao’s electoral races have long been the playground of the province’s clans. The Sangki clan, for example, is fielding 26 candidates, while the Midtimbangs are fielding 25. The Mangudadatu clan, the main rival of the Ampatuans, is fielding 18, even as their bailiwick is really in the neighboring province of Sultan Kudarat.
Interestingly, the proliferation of the clans and their continued and consistent dominance in Maguindanao does not seem to have had any positive effect on the socioeconomic development of Maguindanaoans. The province continues to wallow at the bottom with economic indicators showing very little progress over the decades.
The documentary also traces the evolution of the royal clans of the Sultanate of Maguindanao into today’s political clans, and how patronage politics on both the local and national level reinforce and perpetuate this clan system.
The print version of the documentary may also be read here:
The PCIJ series on Maguindanao is the first of a series of studies on the political clans that rule over significant portions of the country. In the next three years, the PCIJ will also be doing print stories and documentaries on other political clans in the Visayas and Luzon with assistance from the UNDP and CHR.
Watch the Maguindanao documentary tonight, April 28, on TV5′s Balwarte election series.
CULTURAL NUANCES, economic and historical contexts, and a bewildering political milieu – understanding all these factors and how they relate to each other is the only way one can hope to understand the persistence of political clans and their continued dominance in Philippine politics.
During the launch of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism’s (PCIJ) series of stories on the clans of Maguindanao, several experts stressed the need for journalists to go beyond the counting of names and listing of numbers of the political candidates in order to better explain why the clans still reign supreme in the province.
PCIJ’s Malou Mangahas on the objective of the PCIJ project
The PCIJ stories and a video documentary on the clans of Maguindanao were presented to the public in a briefing/forum in Quezon City last April 11. Joining the activity were several political, social, and cultural experts from both Manila and Maguindanao. The project was assisted by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Commission on Human Rights.
The Maguindanao study is only the first of a series of efforts to better understand and explain the persistence of the clans in Philippine politics. While Maguindanao serves as the pilot province for the initial effort, the PCIJ will be conducting similar studies in other island groups in Visayas and Luzon. This, as Maguindanao is far from the only province in the country with an army of political families that are dominating a particular area, says Asian Institute of Management Policy Center director Ronald U. Mendoza.
Atty. Laisa Alamia, chairperson of the Regional Human Rights Commission for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), said the PCIJ study was a very good start to understanding the nature and characteristics of dynasties wherever they may be.
Atty Laisa Alamia of the Regional Human Rights Commission on the importance of context
“This is a good start. The challenge is for all of us to continue doing this and for PCIJ to continue also doing this to help us in trying to find solutions to the problems in the ARMM,” Alamia said in the forum.
AIM’s Mendoza also endorsed the PCIJ investigative report as a model for looking into the historical and political contexts of the dynasties in the country.
AIM’s Dr. Ronald Mendoza on the national context
Another guest, Mussolini Lidasan of the Al Qalam Institute of the Ateneo de Davao, was a good example of the importance of nuancing in the reportage of dynasties. A Datu, Lidasan is one of many clan members who are engaged in civil society work to strengthen political and social structures in his home province.
The PCIJ series on the Maguindanao clans may be read here: