Philippine Senator Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III's announcement this week that he was running for the presidency next year was hardly surprising, but nonetheless had me bewildered. Political dynasties are a reason why the nation languishes near the bottom of the Asian development league. They are behind endemic corruption, keep power in the hands of a few, ensure the majority remain poor and prevent new talent from participating in the governing process. In short, they are anti-democracy; yet here was the son of a staunch upholder of all things democratic, late former president Corazon Aquino, seemingly seeking to perpetuate the blight.
Corazon Aquino's death last month revived the spirit of the 'people power' revolution that in 1986 toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos and swept her to the presidency. Fears are high that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo - the daughter of a former president who has two sons, a brother-in-law and a sister-in-law in Congress - will try to engineer continuation of her rule through constitutional change. Amid the grieving and praise for Corazon, calls mounted for her son to contest the presidency - despite a lacklustre political career of nine years in Congress and another two in the Senate. He won office less for ability than the name of his mother and equally revered father. Benigno Aquino Jnr was a senator and opposition leader when he was assassinated by Marcos gunmen in 1983. Noynoy on Wednesday said that he would lead the fight and wanted 'to make democracy work not just for the rich and the well-connected, but for everybody'.
If Arroyo cannot get her way, her governing coalition has on offer another dynastic twist. It is tipped to put forward Aquino's first cousin, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro, for the presidency. Both men are members of a clan that has dominated Filipino life for decades. They are close relatives of Eduardo Cojuangco, the majority owner of brewing giant San Miguel.
Family dynasties are rampant across Asia. They are particularly prevalent in South Asia. The practice spreads continent-wide, though: the prime ministers of Malaysia and Singapore are the sons of former prime ministers, as is Japan's premier-in-waiting, Yukio Hatoyama. But nowhere do business and political clans run as deep as in the Philippines.
Spanish then American colonisers nurtured the Filipino landed elite. The largely feudal system continued after independence in 1946, with the chosen few turning to government office to protect interests. The dynasties have evolved to believe it is their right to govern. They use their wealth to keep power, and ordinary Filipinos generally accept the situation as inevitable.
The Centre for People Empowerment in Governance, a group that advocates greater grass-roots participation in politics, estimates that the country of 92 million people has 250 families that monopolise national and local political life. They represent just 0.00001667 per cent of the country's 15 million families. Of the 265 members of Congress, about two-thirds belong to these clans.