Introduction

Politics in the Philippines has been under the control of a few notable families. Even now,
it is normal for a politicians son, daughter, wife, brother, or other kinsman, to run for the same
or other government office. The term coined for this is political dynastythe succession of
rulers from the same descent in the world of politics. It is also defined as members of political
clans; those representatives with relatives in both appointive and elective office. It includes
family members who ran in elections but lost (Coronel, 2004).
There are four natures of political families namely, they are feudal lords, warlords,
middle class, and business tycoons. The political family that I will be discussing in this paper is
the Arroyo family. First, I would be discussing the profile of the family and the members of the
family who entered in politics. In the second part, I would be discussing their political
background from the start until the present times whether they are still standing or whether their
domination is already declining. In the third part, I would be associating their domination to the
three elements power, authority, and legitimacy. I would also be determining how this family
manifested these elements in order to preserve their domination. The fourth part will be about the
impact and contribution of their power domination to the place they rule. Lastly, I will be
showing the spread of power of the Arroyo family through a map.

I. Profile of the Family

Arroyos came from the town of Molo in Iloilo. The Arroyos of Iloilo were wealthy
merchants but they were of Chinese origins. Their original ancestors first settled in Molo district
(famous for its Pancit Molo), which was then known as the Parian of Iloilo because all the
Chinese immigrants and local Chinese-Filipino merchants were then quartered there. Ignacio
Arroyo and Doa Mara Pidal had three children, Maria Beatriz Del Rosario Arroyo, Jose Maria
Arroyo and Mariano Arroyo. On 1914, Maria Beatriz joined the religious life and made her
profession. Jose Maria represented the Iloilo-Capiz-Romblon region from 1919 to 1925 under
the nacionalista party and was a close friend of the during-that-time senate president, Manuel L.
Quezon. Jose Maria died in 1927. A year after his death, his brother, Mariano was elected as
Governor in Iloilo. Now, Maria Beatriz is a candidate for sainthood in Catholic Church. The
Arroyos of Iloilo were also famous for being the Nacionalista Party leaders in Iloilo and die-hard
loyalists of President Manuel L. Quezon. Another old-rich family, the Lopezes of Iloilo, were
also bitter enemies of the Arroyos. In 1929, jueteng became rampant in Iloilo and allegedly,
politicians protect the jueteng lords and keep them safe from raids by giving bribes to the local
officials including the governor, which during that time was Mariano, an Arroyo which was an
enemy of the Lopezs. In September of the same year, two Lopezes, Eing Lopez and El Tiempo
began a crusade against jueteng in Iloilo and the corruption created in the local government.
Because of the pressure made by El Tiempo, the chinese jueteng lord was raided by the
Philippine Constabulary and was convicted. Due to that, the tension narrowed focusing to the
governor. The crusade continued causing Mariano to file libel against El Tiempo. On the other
hand, Tiempo filed administrative charges against the governor. As this conflict intensified, this
caught the attention of the American governor general Dwight Davis. Governor Arroyo and his
officials then underwent scrutiny. As a result of the scandal, the nacionalista party began backing
away from the Arroyos. Until now, in the present times, the two families, Arroyo and Lopez are
still in feud.
On the other hand, Jose Maria Arroyo and his wife, Jesusa Araneta-Lacson of Negros
Occidental had seven children and one of whom was Ignacio Lacson Arroyo. After the death of

his father, Jose Maria and his family moved to Negros Occidental. Ignacio afterward married
Lourdes Zaragoza Tuason and produced two sons, Jose Miguel and Ignacio Arroyo Jr. Jose
Miguel graduated from Ateneo de Manila University and became a lawyer later. Then, in 1968 he
married Gloria Macapagal of Lubao, Pampanga, daughter of the former president Diosdado
Macapagal and Evangelina Macaraeg-Macapagal. After their marriage, they then lived in
Pampanga. They had three children, Juan Miguel Arroyo, Evangelina Lourdes Arroyo, and
Diosdado Ignacio Jose Maria Arroyo. Gloria became a senator in 1992 until 1998, and in the
year 1998, she ran as a vice-president and Jose Divenecia Jr. as President. Though Divenecia lost
to Joseph Estrada, Arroyo won and was appointed Secretary of Social Welfare and Development.
On the year 2001, she then succeeded the presidential position after Estrada was impeached. In
the 2004 elections, she then ran for presidency and won against the closest opponent, Fernando
Poe with a margin of over one million votes. After her term, she then explicitly showed her
intention to run in the 2010 congressional elections. She won and became the representative of
the 2nd District of Pampanga and preceded her son Mikey who ran as a partylist representative of
Ang Galing Pinoy in the same year. The oldest child, Juan Miguel Mikey Arroyo ran for Vice
governor in Pampanga with Lito Lapid as the governor from 2001-2004. During his term as a
vice-governor, he married his second cousin, Angela Montenegro and had two children, Mikaela
Gloria and Marie Angelique. He then ran for Pampanga 2 nd Districts representative and won. He
assumed office from 2004-2010. In 2009, a group of veterans reported that Mikey failed to
declare his SALN for the last two years that cost P63.7 M and almost two years later, the BIR
filed a tax evasion against Mikey and Angela for the same reason. After sitting for two terms in
congress as a district representative, he then became a partylist representative for Ang Galing
Pinoy, a group representing security guards. The second child, Evangelina Lourdes married J.
Aloysius Bernas. The third child, Diosdado Ignacio Jose Maria Arroyo is the representative of
the first district of Camarines Sur in 2007-2010 and after that, he then moved to the second
district and became their district representative in 2010. He is married to Victoria Manotok and
had two children, Eva Victoria, and Diosdado Miguel Luis Jr.
Also, Ignacio Jr., Jose Miguels younger brother, got married to his first wife, Marilyn
Jacinto and had two daughters, Bernardina and Dina Arroyo. However, they filed an annulment

for their marriage. Afterwards, Ignacio Jr. married his second wife, Alicia Aleli Morales and had
two more children, Alelu Arroyo and Garie Concepcion. However, the two separated and the
Ignacio lived with his live-in partner Grace Ibuna who he had no child with. On January 2012,
Ignacio died due to a liver disease. after his death, his partners began quarrelling whether who is
the legal wife and who has the right for his wealth.

II. Socialization of Political Family

Basing from the political background of the Arroyo family, the main agent for
socialization would be the family, and on the first time is the peer group and later on, the political
party also became a minor agent. The first entry of the Arroyo in the politics is during the time of
Jose Maria who became a senator in the year. His political orientation was influenced by the
people his family interacts with when doing business since he belongs to a family of merchants
and that his family has a lot of connections. He also was a close friend of Manuel L. Quezon who
at that time was the senate president and belonged to the Nacionalista Party. Though, his
engagement in politics was short-lived when he died in 1997, his brother Mariano immediately
entered politics a year after. During Marianos time, the main agent for influencing his political
orientation would be the Nacionalista Party. His family was known to be the leader of the party
in Iloilo. Peer groups had also greatly influenced Marianos governance since they still had
associations with Chinese merchants in their place and allegedly, these merchants, the jueteng
lords give them bribes to be safe and secured from raids and to turn on blind eye on the jueteng
in Iloilo but after the situation spread in Manila, attracted the attention of the governor general
Dwight, and they were scrutinized, the Nacionailsta began avoiding association with the Arroyos
to preserve their image.
The sister of Jose Maria, Beatriz also helped in improving the image of their family after
becoming a nun and founded the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of the Philippines.
This gave the Arroyos the image of a religious and God-fearing catholic family which they use as
their advantage to penetrate in Politics and establish a strong foundation for their political
dynasty to survive. This even intensified today especially that Beatriz and Maria Teresa Arroyo
Lacson, a relative of Jesusa Lacson-Arroyo, Jose Marias wife is now a candidate for sainthood.
Their familys connection also widened because of marrying landed families not only in
Iloilo but also in Negros Occidental. This greatly affects because not only the connections of the
wedded families will be influenced but also the laborers working for their haciendas.

III. Manifestation of Power, Authority, and Legitimacy

A. Power
The first step to penetrate Iloilo was by being known to the people. The Arroyo family
was of Chinese origins and was famous merchants and had many connections with the Chinese
merchants there. What they did was establish good relationship with the merchants and the
people there through the use of their business. Another thing that helped them rise to power was
their being known to be the leader of the Nacionalista Party in Iloilo and are close with Mauel L.
Quezon, the leader of Nacionalista Party, which during that time was the party, which main
platform is emancipating the people from poverty and injustice. Self-reliant and sustainable
economic development program shall be pursued by implementing agrarian reform, increasing
agricultural productivity and developing domestic industries. Establishing a name that belongs to
a party that is pro-Filipino gave them power to lead the people.
Also, marriage between landed clans there, starting with the Lacson of Negros Occidental
made it easier for power expansion. After that, Arroyos also became connected with Pampanga
when Miguel married Gloria Macapagal, which also belongs to a political family. This was a
fusion of two political families that made the base of the dynasty stronger, preserving their
positions. These intermarriages spread the power of the political family, that made many Arroyorelated enter politics until it became embedded in the politics of their place that there should be
an Arroyo in office. Having that much influence to the landed in many provinces made it easier
for them to decide for the people under them, having the face of power as agenda-setting.
Basing on Shiela Coronels born to rule, the reason why the Arroyo family is successful
in establishing its dynasty because of the use of strategic marriage and the propagation of
popular myth.
i. Strategic marriage. The wide spread of Arroyo power was due to the marriage of the
members of the family to feudal lords and even to other political families in different provinces
like Negros Occidental (Jesusa Lacson) and Pampanga (Gloria Macapagal). This strategic

marriage helped the Arroyos penetrate other provinces and influence their decisions. In the case
of Juan Miguel, he married his own cousin, Angela just to preserve power within their clan.
ii. Propagation of popular myths. Though the claim that the Arroyos have a nun relative
who is a candidate for beatification, is true, it could also be associated with the political interests
of the family. they used this title to have a more established identity. The Arroyos want to portray
a religious, god-fearing family so that the people would trust them and vote every Arroyo who
runs for election seeing that they have the saints in their side.
In the 7 Ms mentioned in Coronels work, three of them are manifested by the Arroyo
family namely, Media/Movies, Marriage, and Myth. Since the second and third has already been
discussed, I would be discussing the first, Media/Movies.
iii. Media/Movies. Juan Miguel was an actor first before he entered politics. He became
an actor as early as 1996 while he only entered politics in 2001. Media made him known to the
people that made him easier to enter into politics in addition to being a son the vice-president,
during the time he entered politics. Though he was already known for that, media enhanced his
image and also, though not directly, media promoted him as a prospect to enter politics. Also, the
Arroyos being featured in many mass media also boosted their popularity.

B. Authority
Because of the spread of political domination of the Arroyos, people became accustomed
to have an Arroyo sit in office. Also, the claim that the Arroyos have the same descendant as St.
Theresa of Avila and Maria Teresa Arroyo y Lacson and Rosario y Pidal, two Filipino nuns who
are up to beatification in Vatican. This claim made their family pleasant in the eyes of the people
despite the scandals that the Arroyos face (eg. Tax evasion filed against Mikey and his wife
Angela). In this situation, charismatic authority was manifested, portraying themselves as the
religious-having-a-bloodline-of-saints family. Traditional authority was also was used for their
political family to stay in position. Through the years, the Arroyos had been in politics since
1919. Now, even in other provinces outside Iloilo, after the spread of power, they had established

their name in other provinces and in the whole of the Philippines when Gloria Arroyo was
elected president. After being elected, the Arroyos manifested legal-rational authority and passed
bills. Even now, despite the criticism of the public to the Arroyo administration and the different
scandals that their family face, when Gloria ran for a lower position, as a district representative
of Pampanga, and her son Diosdado in Camarines Sur, they still managed to win and sit in
position, and that is because they had established themselves in their places.

C. Legitimacy
The recognition of the people of the provinces they dominated turned their naked power
into rightful authority. The belief of having a bloodline of saints of the Arroyos made the people
recognize their authority to rule over them. Also, being associated with the former president
Diosdado Macapagal boosted the peoples trust to the Arroyos even though some of them dont
really know what Diosdado has done for this country, as long as the Arroyos are experienced
with regards to governance, and public service. Also, during Arroyos presidency, she also gained
the trust of the church which was largely due to Jaime Cardinal Sin, who dominated the clergy
through force of personality and his control of Manilas mega-diocese. However, his death in
2005 deprived the bishops of an activist leader with both will & power, and the Church thus
reverted to her customary ideological divisions. However, the weakening of the rural sectors,
church weakened and became neutralized. Now that the church was neutralized, they had no
liberal mass opinion. During these times, her power came largely from the urban middle class.
This class became weak though active in intervening to politics and tends to be less proopposition because their attention was diverted to other things like having coffee in Starbucks
and going to shopping malls. This weakness was used by Gloria to counter-mobilize the
provinces and use them against urban-mobilized protest.
Even in Iloilo after transferring residence, their power is still recognized. This boosted
when Gloria was elected to senate and Mariano, Jose Miguels brother as governor in Iloilo. As a
symbol of their family's power and influence in the past, the Rotunda/Fountain located in front of

the Iloilo Provincial Capitol is named the Arroyo Fountain. This clearly manifests how people
recognize their authority and influence that even though Mariano had a bad record with regards
to the jueteng lords during his time, and the issue of bribery, and the crusade against the
corruption in the local government, decades after, people still acknowledge them having so much
influence and power and this acknowledgement gave the Arroyos legitimacy to rule over them.
Even now, many articles describe Mariano as a disgraced governor in Iloilo. Even though
Mariano ended up that way, people still recognized his brother, Senator Maria Jose Arroyo for
his commitment in establishing the Metro Iloilo Waterworks. Most residents in Iloilo City also
agree that Arroyo contributed a lot to the economic improvements in the place.

IV. Impact/ Contribution

During Jose Marias term as a senator, he was able to contribute in the establishment of
the Metro Iloilo Waterworks. The reason why people built a water fountain as a memorial for
Jose Maria Arroyo is because it signifies his great contribution in providing water supply in
Iloilo.
In Marianos term as a governor of Iloilo, instead of contributions, a jueteng scandal was
being associated with his name. The scandal however, though negative, still produced a positive
outcome, exposing the jueteng lords and being deported back to China. The scandal also exposed
the corruption in the public office including the governors. Allegedly they receive bribe from the
jueteng lords to have a blind eye about the rampant jueteng in Iloilo and also to provide them
with safety and security from raids. Due also to this, governor was scrutinized by the order of the
governor general, exposing the nature of Nacionalista Party where it kept away from associating
with anyone from the Arroyo family to stay away from the chaos.
Though Maria Beatriz Del Rosario Arroyo did not enter politics, her entering a religious
life had a great impact in the political domination of the other family members. She is the
founder of the Dominican Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary in the Philippines. Today, the
membership of the congregation has over 250 members running multiple schools, colleges, and
retreat houses. Though she is already dead, the congregation is still there bringing her name and
the family is taking all the credit.
Mike Arroyo is a lawyer by profession. While he was still First Gentleman of the
Philippines, Arroyo provided funding and training for all Philippine athletes, allowing them to
compete in the 2005 Southeast Asian Games hosted by the Philippines. In December 2002, the
President appointed her husband as an OFW envoy, putting him in charge of representing the
President in foreign countries where she could not visit or travel to due to more pressing national
agendas. Alleged controversies regarding the funding of his position shortened his stint. Jose
Miguel also had some controversies. In 2003, Senator Ping Lacson exposed a secret bank
account under the name of Jose Vidal. He accused Mike as the owner and just using the alias.

According to him, the money inside came from the money laundered from his wifes campaign
contributions during elections. However, Ignacio intervened and claimed to be Jose Pidal. In
2006, another controversy rocked the DA when former USec. Jocelyn Bolante, a known friend
and ally of Miguel diverted the campaign funds. However, the investigation ended with no real
conclusions of the connection of Bolante to Arroyo with regards to the issue.
Ignacio Arroyo Jr. is known to be the rescuer of his brother Miguel. Its not only the
Pidal case that Ignacio claimed what has been accused to his brother. In 1997, Gloria Arroyo,
then a senator, was investigated for alleged nondisclosure of $4.6 million worth of properties in
San Francisco, California. Mike Arroyo said it was his younger brother who was the actual
owner of the properties. The Negros Occidental representative also figured in the controversy
surrounding the sale to the Philippine National Police of used helicopters allegedly owned by the
Arroyos.The sale of the three helicopters to the PNP was negotiated in May 2009 with Manila
Aerospace Products Trading Corp. (Maptra). The purchase order worth P105 million was
approved in September 2009. In July 2011, Lacson alleged that two of the helicopters were not
brand-new, as was supposedly made to appear in the purchase agreement, and claimed that they
were previously owned by the former first couple. After Miguel denied ownership of the
helicopters, Ignacio showed documents of the helicopters belonging to Po.
What makes me curious is that everytime his brother is being accused of something,
Ignacio always comes to cover up and that the authority seems to let things pass and disappear
without having thorough investigation.
As the former president, I am sure that Gloria Arroyo has done quite a lot in more than
nine years as the president of the Philippines. Not only that, she has also been in lower ranks of
office for many years. So what Ill be mentioning are the major or most popular ones. The
introduction of Charter Change or the reform of the Constitution which even now, in the Aquino
administration is being tackled, the famous hello Garci controversy with regards to the issue of
cheating in the 2004 elections, and just sometime after Aquino seated as president, Gloria Arroyo
was arrested from plunder charges.

As for Juan Miguel Arroyo, he has only passed one bill for the welfare of the security
guards and that measure for the bill is moving very slowly according to COMELEC: The lone
bill by Arroyo. For Diosdado Arroyo he passed the House Bill Act 339 an act instituting
mechanisms for the establishment of a childrens health insurance program.
Below will be the map that would show the spread of powers of the Arroyo family.
Gradually, when Gloria Arroyo became president, the whole of the Philippines was under the
Arroyo clan.

MAP OF THE SPREAD OF POWER

Analysis

Basing from all the information I gathered, I could say that the Arroyo dynasty is still
there, however, their strength is slowly fading. Their foundation weakened when Gloria Arroyo
was arrested for plunder, Iggys death, and the numerous controversies that they faced.
The use of strategic marriage is very evident in their clan. Also, after looking thoroughly
to their profile, I noticed that the family always transfer residency. I believe that this is also a
strategy for easier spreading of power. Once a family has already established a name in a
particular province, that name would be inculcated in the minds of the people. Then if they do
that to the people in every province they transfer to, number of supporters would increase. It
would be easier for someone from that clan to run for a higher position because his/her bloodline
is already known. Also, people tend to vote a person even with lack of experience but have an
established name. as a result, most dynastic families jump to high positions and make those
positions as their training ground instead of starting from the lowest rank. This situation
commonly leads to a poor performance of the public servant. However, if the clan use strategies
like propagating myths and succeed in letting the people believe that they are still deserving for
the position, they would certainly remain in power unless another clan, in this case, the Lopez
clan (in Iloilo) might replace them. Nonetheless, the rival clan would still dominate in dynasties.

UNIVERSITY OF THE PHILIPPINES

Lahug, Cebu City

POLITICAL DYNASTY
of the
ARROYO FAMILY

Submitted by
MARJORIE BAQUIAL

Submitted to
PROF. MAE CLAIRE JABINES