BOOK REVIEW
THE RULEMAKERS
HOW THE WEALTHY AND WELLBORN DOMINATE CONGRESS The congress or the House of Representatives and the Senate or the upper house are the two components of the legislative branch of the Philippine government. They are meant to pass bills, create laws, and approve budgets that benefit their constituents and the nation as a whole. In theory, this is the ideal upon which they were built, they would legislate for the people to best serve them and to ensure the nations capacity to carry out the legislation that they pass and that they are aligned with the needs of the people they represent. This is not the case however, even as we step in to the 15th congress the House of Representatives is still truly not representative. Since the 1898 Malolos Congress to our 15th congress, The Filipino people have witnessed, participated, fought and experienced how senators and congressmen handle the power and opportunity they gain from membership in this institution. The way in which the power and privileges that come from their positions are used are often kept secret and outside the knowledge of their voters and even if it was known it is beyond the power of the citizenry to interfere in most cases. The Constitution imposes limitations and prohibitions and there are also general guidelines and principle of law that should be followed, however they do not seem enough of a deterrent to reduce or eradicate the illegitimate, illegal, manipulative, selfish, self serving, patronage, and entrenching actions of (some or most) those in the legislature of the government. The book demonstrates and presents the flaws, dealings, requisites, anomalies and various other deeds that have taken root and have become day to day practice in the Philippine Congress. It was never intended to be the enclave where the elite could make more money, power, and connections but rather where the interests of the people were to be represented and addressed. In some point in time though it changed, and that changed congress into where it is the hotbed of political dynasties, celebrities, elites of the economic sectors, and landlord/ haciendero come together and “rule for the people”. The book presents the current problems in Congress, how they started, and how these practices affect us until today. Some of the issues discussed are how to become a politician, Political dynasties, pork-barreling, patronage, legislation manipulation, entrepreneurial legislation, politics as profession, murder, moneymaking, intimidation, and other issues such as celebrity wedding and the luxury living styles of those in service. The book in general, characterizes and describes the individuals and groups of families that comprise the Philippine Congress. The RULEMAKERS is divided into five chapters, each chapter has several sub-topics or articles that are all interrelated and are subsumed into the main point of the whole chapter. The book talks about what a politician typically is to how to get elected, exploit the position for money and power, remain in office, further the family dynasty, and to ensure political viability. It also talks about the search for an alternative and how it has at least transformed and “democratized” in one way or another. The first chapter begins by depicting the common characteristics and the typical mould of traditional politicians. It described their age, social status, economic class, family background, educational accomplishments, and experience in the government. Based on statistics gathered, factual findings, and other interviews and observations there is a clear and distinct flavour and formula that is necessary to become a politician in the congress. In the first chapter “House of Privilege” gives a clear description of the politicians who comprise the Philippine congress. They are male, college educated, middle-aged, and most likely has a law degree. They were into business and usually had multiple source of income and usually have assets in the 10 million range (most under state their assets). In the early incarnations of the Congress most legislators were landlords or hacienderos, until such time where new entrants from the business sector and the celebrities entered and cracked the landscape. Women were also a minority but since the popularity of some or the passing of seats by the male patriarch either to wife or daughter introduced women politicians into the scene. Most of those in Congress are considered political professionals or those who have made politics their business and careers. They do this by creating acquaintances, allies, and ensure proper placement of their or their families business and ensure the dynasty is safely protected. The authors detailed the image and the characteristics of our legislators and allowed the readers to infer that those politicians they vote and install in power are more concerned about carrying acts and crafting bills that particularly benefit them and those that they are aligned with than those who vote for them. The authors describe what they do before they get elected and what their priorities are once they do wield that power. In the end since they are not representative of those they represent, they may not be able to sympathize and may not put their interests over their own and that is where the problem seems to lie. The second chapter is Born To Rule. This chapter extensively discusses political dynasties. From dynasty building to dynasty retention, from creating a myth to marrying into power this is all discussed in this chapter. The authors also discuss specific families and Political dynasties such as the Marcos', Aquinos, Osmenas,Cojuancos, Cuencos, Dys, Singsons, and others, they discuss and reveal their tactics, stratigies, and mechanisms on how they got and remain in power. Even until today these names remain in politics and have one or more members in government posts and retain valuable name recall in their respective porovinces and for some in the whole nation. The chapter also discusses how money, marriage, and the media have become the tools of dynasty building and that power is built upon family connections. It is so effective that it has become their own machine and mechanism of retaining power and position that it is even better than political parties. The chapter demonstrates that politics is a game of the family and that the family and dynasty is the most valuable and viable way to preserve the most valued prizes: wealth and power.

The third chapter talks about the benefits and the duties of a congress member, thi chapter is called the Perks of Lawmaking. Lawmakers as we call them may not be an appropriate title for the members of our congress. the reason for this is that according to this chapter is that most of their times are spent away from legislating and more on recieving personal guests, constituents, and clients. only about one-fourth regularly attend the hearings and usually the representative giving the speech is largely ignored. The congress member usually only go there to have their attendance checked and they go off and attend to their own concerns rather than convene on bills. The chapter specifically mention that legislators, especially representatives, spend about five hours per day attending to call and personal meetings in their offices. The number of national bills passed is declining and the local bills to date still outnumber that of national bills passed. this shows the clear priorities of our legislators. The senators are portrayed in a better light in this chapter. Since they are nationally elected and are only a handful they have better attendance and convene and pass bills easily. The chapter also mentions about how the executives have to make various compromises with the legislators, they have to allot large amounts of money to ensure the passage of a particular bill. It is the greasing of the proverbial wheel that takes place in the legislature. Christmas gift and foriegn travel allowances are also mentioned and the amount disclosed amount was fairly substantial, all tax free and comes from the tax payers money. The authors in this chapter want to reveal to the readers the various anomalies and discrepancies that take place beyond our eyes and that these kind of events and transactions do take place. The fourth chapter is For the Love of the Pork. The Priority Development Assistance Fund or commonly known as the pork barrel allocates P65 million to each congressman and P200 million to each senator. This alone may be reason eough to run for most people, but this is all free money and the legislators are not accountable for it and can spend it any way they see fit. With all this said the author frames the issue of why these posts are so contested and why dynasties are formed to ensure that this money remains in the control of the family. Though it would be unfair to say that this money is all being stolen or mishandled by all congressmen and women it is a perception that many of the Filipino people have. I have no doubt that most of this money is allocated to projects and developments of their specific districts. However, the chapter talks about the lengths candidates will go through to secure a post and the main reason for all of this is not to serve or to help but it usually is for the love of the pork. The last chapter In Search of Alternatives talks about the party list system and how it can provide them with choices. The author discusses the party-list sytem, participating parties, interest groups, representatives and how it affected the culture in congress since the creation of the party list law. The chapter was fairly short and the point was clear. It discussed how the system gave voters a choice on who they would elect to represent them not based on who they were rather on what cause or party they stood and fought for thier vote ensured that their needs were being addressed by that party representative they chose if they got a seat. Overall the Rulemakers is an interesting and informative book geared towards showing the reader the some of the inside information and various events that take place within the legislature and its elite participants. Some parts where discussed in more than one section of the book which emphasized its importance but caused a minor convolution of ideas aside from that the book was very well written and has a lot of very praise worthy features. One these features was the use of quantitative facts that were illustrated using tables and figures to give credence to what the authiors were saying. An example presented was how the longer a legislator stays in power the richer that legislator becomes. It was shown that in the 11th congress a Senators worth was P32 million pesos and in the 12th congress where most senators from the previous congress were re elected their wealth in average rose to P59 million a clear indicator of the point that the author was arguing, the longer they stay in power the wealthier they get. It was also in using tables and charts where the author presented the decline of the efficiency of the congress with repect to the passing of bills. The table showed the decline of the ratio between national to local from the 8th congress which had a ratio of 1 to 6 to the 12th congress with the huge decline of 1 to 1.2. The plethora of information and tables allow the reader to grasp and further analyze the poimts that the authors were making. It is truly wonderful that data back most assertions and claims that instilled confidence in the reader rather than assume it for speculation. This book also presents various facts and concepts and it also presents different trends in Philippine politics. From making a career in politics by going into local posts before running for the higher positions which is true for most representatives. For the senatorial posts however, this trend may not necessarily apply because of the influx of media and entertainment industry personalities that challenge for the slots available. Another trend is that political marriages seem to be a inevitable way to secure a politicians win in elections. The best examples are that of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos and the Ninoy and Cory Aquino marriages, these marriages gave birth to new alliances and the unification of resources.
Although the book takes a fairly negative view and oust most if not all of the Philippine congress dirty secrets it does not turn a blind eye towards the good that they do. The book provides a portion and a look for the justification and explanation of pork barrels like being one of the resources readily available for developing local communities and that through it the governments’ presence is felt made possible through the representatives they elected who would be in the best position to ascertain their needs. It is a very intriguing, engaging, and interesting book that shows us existing problems and challenges within the legislature. From this knowledge we can derive and infer how these issues remain a challenge for governance and why development stalls in various aspects of the countries progress as a whole.