(Leo is a former investment banker and management consultant. He is a graduate of the London School of Economics; B.Sc. and M.Sc.)

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

The UNA and the Liberal Party announced their preliminary starting line-ups for next year’s Senatorial elections and it is the usual suspects of political names, now bolstered by their offspring. Next year’s Senate could have three families each with two members  comprising 25% of the votes, ten members whose parents/husband had previously served in the Senate, and upto two thirds of the body coming from long-time political families.

With over 90 million people to choose from, this must be a sad state of affairs.

When P-Noy was elected, the Filipino hoped this would be the start of change, a transition from the politics of power, money, fear, and exclusion that has characterized this country; to the politics of hope, inclusion, merit and ideals. We envisioned ours would finally be a nation of access, values and opportunity.

Such, seemingly, is not to be.

If the list of our future leaders is an indication, we are back to square one, to politics as an extension of money, to family dynasties, to political feudalism.

What happened to the promise unfurled in that sunny day of July 2010 in the plains of Luneta? Where and why did we slip back?

The task of mending a broken political culture was difficult to start with. At best it was the work of a generation but we had hoped the journey could commence. We never got going and we must ask ourselves why.

Here are some possible reasons:

Disclaimer: The views in this blog are those of the blogger and do not necessarily reflect the views of ABS-CBN Corp.