Gambling lords. Warlords. Drug lords. Despotic landlords.
These are the superstars of the Philippine underworld. Their armed goons and almost limitless wealth make them powerful political kingpins and kingmakers. Businessmen go to them for protection, priests request donations from them and politicians want to be cozy with them. Today, many of these ‘dark lords’ are aspiring for public office. Maybe, like Michael Corleone from the film The Godfather they wanted to be legitimate.
Gambling lords are more popularly known as ‘Jueteng’ lords. Jueteng is an illegal numbers game in the provinces. It is similar to a small town lottery but it is outlawed by the state. There are jueteng winners everyday and most of them are farmers and small income earners who hope to receive extra cash from betting on their favorite numbers. But the bigger winners are jueteng lords who operate the game and collect the dividends every evening. To escape arrest, jueteng lords pay protection money to police, local officials and national politicians. Former President Joseph Estrada was impeached in 2000 because of an allegation that he was receiving jueteng protection money.
Some suspected jueteng lords have crossed-over to mainstream politics. Lilia Pineda, wife of an alleged jueteng boss in Central Luzon, was elected board member of Pampanga, the home province of the president. Pineda’s son is even godson of the president. Pineda is now running for governor. Armand Sanchez of Batangas is another suspected jueteng strongman in the Southern Tagalog region. Sanchez was elected governor of Batangas and is hoping to reclaim his seat this year.
Drug lords are in the limelight today because of a recently released US State Department report which warned that drug money would be used to influence the results of this year’s elections. The value of illegal drug trade in the country is estimated at about $8.4 billion. Government officials admit that narco-politics is already entrenched in various parts of the country. A city mayor in Metro Manila was tagged last month by the police as coddler of suspected drug lords.
A warlord is a broad name for politicians or leaders who control a private army. Warlords are feared because they act as little presidents and little generals in their turf. The most notorious warlord today is Maguindanao leader Andal Ampatuan who is accused of masterminding the gruesome election-related massacre of 57 civilians last November. But Ampatuan is just the kingpin of Maguindanao. There are 85 provinces in the Philippines and each province is dominated by one or several warlords. According to the police, there are at least 112 private armies operating in the country.
Despotic landlords are the royal families of feudal Philippines. These landlords continue to own huge tracts of prime agricultural lands despite the implementation of numerous land reform programs in the past decades. In many provinces, despotic landlords are also the reigning political dynasties and warlords. Landlords who own the biggest land in the province can easily win during elections because majority of voters are their tenants. Activists have accused the Cojuangco-Aquino family, the owner of the biggest family-owned plantation in Southeast Asia, of being despotic landlords who ordered the killing of 14 protesting farmers in 2004.
The other prominent ‘dark lords’ of Philippine politics are the smuggling lords, quarrying lords and fake lords who invoke the name of God during elections.
The underworld bosses become more influential during elections because of their money and armed machinery. Instead of herding them to jail, they are glorified as kingmakers and philanthropists. Some suspected shady characters are even running for public office. The influence of ‘dark lords’ in politics is often compared to the sun. On a cloudy day we do not see the sun yet we feel its mighty presence and harmful ultraviolet rays.
‘Dark lords’ are an anathema in a democratic country like the Philippines. Like the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun which destroy life on the planet, ‘dark lords’ and other underworld untouchables weaken the democratic potential of politics.
wowie
I would agree to most of what is stated above except for the part where you stated that each province is dominated by one or several warlords because their are provinces that are not dominated by any warlord. Though their are gamblinglords and druglords in every province, not all of them are warlords though all of the so-called warlords are actually the gamblinglords and druglords of their territory. They mentain private armies to protect their illegal business and control local officials and the insurgents. Some of the private armies are even disguised as CVO’s which is also armed by the AFP themselves. As for the landlords, we can’t blame these people for inhereting vast tracks of land. I used to support the CARP of the government but now I realized that it was a mistake, These landlords could no longer modernize their methods and therefore could not compete against imported agricultural products, so much more the tenants that are given small tracks of land. They till and wait for harvest time to enjoy the fruits of their labor, but what will they eat during the waiting period? In a modern agricultural setting, they could have a monthly salary with benefits if only the landlords were given the opportunity to modernize their equipments and methods using these vast lands as collaterals for loan grants from our government or even from international funding agencies and organizations.
jjregino
Mr. Wowie:
It is apparent you are either a paid hack of the Aquino-Cojuangco Clan or one who is being benefited by this despotic families. If you want to write something try to be more circumspect. Be sure the families of the massacre victims in Hacienda Luisita, in Mendiola and even the killings thereafter don’t not know you personally, because I am sure they will confront you.