THE NEW politics of celebrity is now a recognition on the part of the candidate and his strategists that traditional debts and political alliances are of less importance in winning an election. While money and machinery continue to play a major role, more so in local races where dole-outs are indispensable, celebrity is fast emerging as the decisive factor for victory. This has allowed stars with national recognition to side step the costly and time-consuming process of building a countrywide machinery. As past elections have proven, the mystique of celebrity can be transmitted faster and cheaper by television to vote-rich urban centers across the nation.

The new politics is a shift away from traditional power brokers who command and control the machinery of a ground campaign—the ward leaders, private armies and local and political clans. With media as the new battleground, elections are starting to look less like a ground war and more like an air war, with battles fought and won in the airwaves where the new powerbrokers are the media and advertising executives, publicists, talent managers, PR specialists, and celebrity interviewers. In short: anyone with the ability and resources to confer celebrity status on individuals.

Aware of this development, politicians and those wanting to be like them are finding ways to access the keys to the gates of the celebritocracy. For those unable to gain entrance to this new elite club by virtue of their own star-value and talent, marrying into celebrity has become a fashionable and politically rewarding option.

A closer look at the celebrity families of the Philippines will show a complex web of interlocking marriages with political families. Old political dynasties threatened by extinction are resurrecting their fortunes by mixing celebrity in the bloodline. The Recto line of Batangas and the Romualdez clan of Leyte, both original members of the old aristocracy, are—thanks to highly publicized celebrity marriages—bonafide members of the powerful celebritocracy. Congressman Ralph Recto is married to dramatic actress Vilma Santos while Congressman Alfred Romualdez is married to former sexy starlet Kring-Kring Gonzalez. Already, Recto's senatorial bid is reaping the goodwill of his union with Ate Vi, who seems to have equaled her success in films in her stint as mayor of Lipa City in Batangas. Kring-Kring Gonzalez-Romualdez, meanwhile, is also said to be running as mayor of Tacloban.

Not to be outdone, other families of the old elite are jumping on the bandwagon and offering their children on the altar of celebrity. The Cojuangcos of Tarlac are taking the lead with the politically active Kris Aquino, herself a morning show host at ABS-CBN, and her cousins, sometime actress Mikee and models China and Mai-Mai. Even the Marcoses of Ilocos have established a foothold in GMA celebrity interviewer Paolo Bediones—a grand nephew of the late dictator. All eyes are also on Presidential son Mikey Arroyo, a part-time actor (his last role was as sidekick to jukebox king April 'Boy' Regino) who is interested in running for vice governor of Pampanga.

And just like the political clans of the past, the celebrity elite has its own version of political dynasties. There is retired actor and three-term Senator Ramon Revilla whose action star son Ramon Jr., otherwise known as 'Bong,' is running for re-election as governor of Cavite. Their competition in the dynastic war is the Ejercito clan of San Juan. With Estrada forced into retirement by EDSA II, wife Loi will try to reclaim lost power in the Senate, while his son by mistress Guia Gomez is a shoo-in for mayor of San Juan. The former President and First Lady's first-born, current San Juan Mayor Jinggoy Estrada, has settled for the role of king-maker to fellow action stars Rudy Fernandez, a strong contender for mayor of Quezon City, and Philip Salvador, likewise a formidable bet for vice mayor of Mandaluyong.

This is what we have been reduced to: a republic of entertainment. And from the looks of it, we are doomed to suffer celebrity dynasties, which will multiply and flourish through intermarriage and alliances with the established elite, forming a new strain of politics. Amusement can only triumph over serious discourse in this new politics, and the illusion of action will replace genuine public service. And like the curtain that separates the stars from the audience, the great divide between the powerful few and the powerless majority will remain.