Avery interesting book by American political analyst and Stanford visiting scholar David Timberman titled, A Changeless Land: Continuity and Change in Philippine Politics, boldly but succinctly dissects “traditional Philippine political culture” into the following elements: 1) The primacy of kinship, 2) Pakikisama and 3) Utang na loob.
While such concepts are generally considered classic traits in this country, Filipinos—regardless of age, social standing, educational attainment or political leaning—are fully aware that these practices lose their virtue once pursued in the political realm. Inversely—to put family first, be convivial and agreeable, and to perpetually owe a debt of gratitude—result in the very pitfalls of a promising land, in a vicious cycle that seems more and more impossible to break.
Thus, given the subject of today’s cover story, it should be easy to judge Makati City Mayor Mar-len Abigail “Abby” Binay as guilty of espousing all three counts, so to speak, of traditional Philippine political culture.
However, considering the unusual circumstances of her bid for re-election, The Sunday Times Magazine enjoins its readers to take a second and closer look into her life’s ongoing saga while harking back on her past, which together, should likely account for the decisions she has made today.
Because maybe—just maybe—Mayor Abby Binay deserves to be given the benefit of the doubt after reading this interview; where surprisingly and quite refreshingly, one of the most talked about city mayors of the day reveals a different brand of leadership from what is expected of a political scion as herself.
Shaken ties
If one were to merely look at the uninterrupted succession of Binays in the Office of the Makati City Mayor—from the time the late President Corazon Aquino appointed patriarch Jejomar Binay as Officer-In-Charge in 1986 to present—then the incumbent steward of the country’s premiere financial hub certainly appears to be a beneficiary of the “primacy of kinship” concept.
But oh so suddenly, at the filing of COCs (certificate of candidacy) in October, the ever solid Binay clan was shaken by the unthinkable. Abby’s younger brother and predecessor, former Mayor Junjun Binay, challenged her bid for re-election and threw his hat into the race.
With the nation stunned but gripped by the ensuing family drama, all sorts of theories quickly surfaced as to why sister and brother are at odds—from the most obvious yet intriguing scenario of sibling rivalry, to the more contrived win-win situation that a Binay vs. Binay will achieve. That is, the certainty that the governance of Makati will remain with the family, no matter which sibling wins.
Though sordidly logical, the very idea of brother challenging sister in elections begs a re-examination from a personal and emotional point of view. If only because we are all family-centric Filipinos and that the Binays are a very Filipino family at their core.
As Mayor Abby clearly expressed in a free-flowing conversation with The Sunday Times Magazine, “No matter what people may think, I am—we are—in a very difficult situation. Because this is not someone [I’m running against] who’s just a third party or even a cousin. He’s my brother. So if running against a relative involves so much emotion, what more a sibling?”
She squarely hit the bullseye when she then added, “Ang eleksyon, matatapos yan. Ang pulitika matatapos din yan. Pero ito, hindi ito matatapos kahit sino man ang manalo sa amin. We will have to face the consequences even after all of this is done because dugo mo yan. Dugo mo yan kaya mahirap.”
Asked why they were unable to resolve the situation from the very start, the second of the former Vice President’s five children replied, “It would have been a simpler solution had one of us given way to the other, but unfortunately that’s not how it works in principle.
“As the incumbent may mga programa akong kailangan kong ituloy at kailangan kong tapusin; but I think that’s also the reason my brother gave as to why he wants to run—because meron din siyang programang gustong ipatupad.
“Given that, you have to remember that the bottom line is this: hindi lang naman pamilya namin yung mamumroblema dito kundi ang taong bayan, kung sino talaga ang sa tingin nila ang may mas kritikal na programang ipapatupad para sa kanila at this crucial time.”
Hinting on the original consensus of the family all the same, the mayor pointed out, “But just to be clear, it was never considered na huwag akong tumakbo. No one ever said, ‘Abby, huwag ka nang tumakbo.’ So basically, the decision really lied on my brother the entire time, kasi given na ako yung dapat tumakbo.”
According to the former congresswoman (she served three terms as Makati City Representative from 2007 to 2016), she stood her ground to run for reelection based on the results of her leadership in the last three years (see sidebars). Without taking sides, and for practicality’s sake, they do require continuity to fully benefit Makati’s citizens. And so to do the job, she has determinedly detached her emotions from the family drama, even if anyone can see how she can easily milk it for sympathy votes as “the sister betrayed.”
But this Binay will do nothing of the sort as she calmly and clearly declared: “Given that my brother and I are now in this situation, we should simply do what is right by the citizens of Makati and run our campaign based on issues, based on performance and based on service, rather than taking shots at each other. For now, we have to set aside our personal differences kasi ang pagtatakbo namin ay para sa serbisyo sa tao, at hindi para mapatunayan kung sino yung mas magaling na kapatid.”
Choices
Now to further understand Abby Binay and her unshakable strength of character requires an appreciation that she is—as she disclosed in this interview—“different” from the rest of her siblings.
While she had the same privileges available to her brother and sisters while growing up, she was apparently exposed to life’s realities much earlier than eldest sibling and Senator Nancy Binay, former mayor Junjun and two other younger Binay daughters.
“I went to Saint Scholastica for grade school and high school, and then I went away to college in UP Los Baños. I took up BS in Human Ecology major in Human Settlements Planning, and lagi kong sinasabi, yung apat na taon akong nag-aral sa UP Los Baños was character-building,” she opened up.
“Siguro that’s also one of the reasons why I’m different from my other siblings because ako talaga yung humiwalay sa pamilya for four years. From an all-girls school sa siyudad, nag-aral ako sa probinsya kung saan ang mga kaklase ko ay mga anak ng magsasaka, mga anak ng mangingisda. Wala silang pakialam kung bagong gising ka o naka-pajama ka pag pumapasok ka.”
Laughing, she continued, “Then I ended up going to Ateneo Law School na kailangan nakaporma ka, kailangan nag-e-English ka. So I’ve done the full circle in terms of yung spectrum ng tao.”
Asked to elaborate on what else makes her “different” from her siblings, Mayor Abby narrated, “Like I said, ako lang sa aming magkakapatid yung humiwalay. In Los Baños, we had a house pero kailangan ako yung mag-asikaso ng labada ko, ako ang mag-grocery para sa sarili ko, and so on. So yung apat na taon na tumira ako doon, I became independent and more attuned to the real world.
“In fact, nung bumalik na ako sa Maynila for law school, hindi ko na rin kinayang bumalik sa bahay namin [in Makati]. My mom [Dr. Elenita Binay] wanted me to go back home but sabi ko, ‘Naku, hindi na ako sanay na may kasama sa bahay, na may mag-aasikaso sa akin, na may magtatanong kung anong oras ka uuwi,” she laughed again.
The mayor was quick to give credit where credit is due, however, in saying she would not have survived her four years in Los Baños had her parents failed to equip her with the proper values growing up.
“Lagi kong sinasabi, sa UP Los Baños, kung hindi maganda yung pagpapalaki sa iyo ng magulang mo, you could make so many wrong decisions. Halimbawa, mabuntis ka nang maaga, mag-dropout ka kasi mag-isa ka. You really have to make your own decisions, gaya ng mag-aaral ka ba o mag-e-enjoy na lang. So nung bumalik nga ako ng Maynila when I took up Law, hindi na rin ako bumalik ng bahay. I ended up staying in a condo while the rest of my siblings were living in my parents’ house. Nagpakasal na sila, nagkaanak na sila, lahat sila, doon nakatira sa bahay ng magulang ko.
“That’s also the reason why hindi kami close kasi mula nung 1997, hindi na ako tumira dun sa bahay namin,” the very candid mayor rounded up.
Nevertheless, as dutiful daughter and true-blooded Binay, the mayor imparted that she has always and continues to respect family traditions and therefore present at important gatherings.
“Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are at my parents’ for example, and may tradition din na every Sunday lunch, doon din kami sa bahay nila,” she further shared. “I’m also there for every crisis the family encounters—whether it’s my dad or my brother, I’m there.”
Married to Luis Campos since 2008, the mayor is also a hands-on mom to a young girl named Martina, and ensures she never deprives her daughter of the Binay family’s love and presence, even at a time when tensions are high.
“Lately, I’ve been sending my daughter to the Sunday lunches, because that’s for her too,” she stated.
‘This is me’
How or why, therefore, having entered politics herself, does she speak in a manner that is so unlike the rest of her family, if not the majority of politicians that generations of Filipinos have come to know?
The kind that always finds a way to sound agreeable even in the worst of situations. The kind that will moralize and put their best foot forward at every opportunity possible?
“Was it a conscious effort on your part—a decision that you made when you entered politics—that you will not sound like them or act like them? Or perhaps, when you ‘say it as it is’, are you just being yourself?” The Sunday Times Magazine consequently proposed.
“I think what I have is a combination of my parents’ characters,” she finally said after a thoughtful pause. “At first, I didn’t want to be a politician, but I’m always up for a challenge. I’m the only lawyer in the family like my dad. But in finally going into politics—although I cannot speak for my other siblings—with me, personality-wise, what you see is what you get. I don’t come up with a public persona. I do not have pretenses. I have the tendency really, to say what I think, sometimes to my detriment.”
A thought bubble suddenly cropped up whether the revelation absolves her of [the adverse effect of] the pakikisama concept. But The Sunday Times Magazine had neither need to wonder more nor even ask because the consistently candid Binay kept nothing off the table.
“Kahit naman sa Makati, sinasabi nila na masungit ako, maldita ako, pero ang sinasabi ko, hindi kasi ako yung pulitiko na ang laging sasagot na ‘Sige pag-aaralan ko.’ Sasabihin ko sa iyo kung puwede o hindi. Hindi kita bobolahin kaya ang naririnig nila, ‘Pasensya na po, hindi po puwede kasi po ganito ang sitwasyon.’
“I think we also have to evolve our politicians. I mean, paano mo babaguhin ang kultura ng politika kung di mo rin naman pinapalitan yung pulitiko—yung tao na pulitiko?”
Pakikisama was more and more disappearing from the equation, and seemingly so, the ever precarious presence of utang na loob.
“‘Yun yung minsan ginagamit nila [laban] sa akin. Na masyado daw akong prangka, masyado daw akong diretso, masyado daw akong…” she trailed off to finally declare, “Mas gusto ko naman yun instead na magpaasa ako. Kasi ako, pag nagbibigay ako ng salita, tinitindigan ko yun. At kung meron akong inumpisahan, tinutuloy ko yon. Hindi puwede sa akin ang mag-paasa lang.
“Pag ako nag-umpisa ng isang programa, tinatanong ko, ‘Kaya ba natin gawin ‘yan nang tuloy-tuloy?’ Hindi naman puwede na pinasaya mo lang sila ngayon, tapos next year wala na. So I think on a long term basis rather than yung panandalian lang.”
Mayor Abby definitely had more to say.
“Case in point, we started giving P5,000 to all my SPED students—yung mga special children na nag-aaral sa school. When we started that last year and I said, ‘Hindi natin yan puwede umpisahan this year tapos next year hindi na and the succeeding years.’ So I made sure we, the city government, can afford to continue that program.
“Again, when people ask me things like yung senior citizen prize money of P100,000 sa centenarian, puwede na ba daw ibigay kapag 95 years old, sabi ko hindi, kasi nga the money is recognition for reaching 100 years. So maraming nagagalit kapag hinindian mo yung expectation nila na yung pulitiko lagi na lang magye-yes. I’m not like that.
“So really, the elections on May 13 next year will really be a test of the voter’s preference. If they like my style, my frankness; if they like that I’m all about the work, then I will win. But if they don’t like it that I don’t always say yes to them because other politicians do, I will lose and I will accept that.”
Rounding up what had become a very enlightening interview on who the often private and therefore lesser known Abby Binay is, a consequential revelation followed that ultimately set her miles apart from embracing the powerfully contagious culture of Philippine politics. For there is actually a fourth element indicated in A Changeless Land, where the primacy of kinship, pakikisama and utang na loob eventually leads. When politics inescapably becomes personal so that the elected come to regard their positions with ownership and can therefore never let them go.
But yet again, there was no need to appraise the possible extent of Mayor Abby Binay’s attachment to her post or power in the future as her unprompted final words conveyed:
“Amid all this chaos, all this controversy, I told myself the other day, kung ayaw ng taumbayan yung pagpapatakbo ko, yung style ko, then tatanggapin ko yun because, unlike many others in government, I know that there is life after politics. Destiny brought me here, but I have my husband and child to spend more time with; I can carry on as a lawyer; I can study abroad as I planned to before my life brought me here. So yes, if they don’t want me and my brand of service, I will move on.”
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