Spice Boys (Congressmen)
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The Spice Boys were six
neophyte A neophyte is a recent initiate or convert to a subject or belief. Neophyte may also refer to: Science * Neophyte (botany), a plant species recently introduced to an area As a proper noun Arts and entertainment * Neophyte, a character class ...
and two-term
congressmen A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The ...
of the
House of Representatives of the Philippines The House of Representatives (; '','' thus commonly referred to as ''Kamara'') is the lower house of Congress of the Philippines, Congress, the bicameral legislature of the Philippines, with the Senate of the Philippines as the upper house. The ...
openly critical of the administration during
Joseph Estrada Joseph Ejercito Estrada (; born Jose Marcelo Ejercito; April 19, 1937), also known by the nickname Erap, is a Filipino politician and former actor, who served as the 13th president of the Philippines from 1998 until his resignation in 2001. ...
's term as President of the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
. The group's name is an allusion to the British girl-group, the
Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 10 ...
. They also played a key role in Estrada's removal from office. The Estrada administration's equivalent of this opposition
clique A clique (AusE, CanE, or ; ), in the social sciences, is a small group of individuals who interact with one another and share similar interests rather than include others. Interacting with cliques is part of normative social development regardles ...
was a seven-member group of congressmen Estrada christened as the " Bright Boys".


Background

The
1998 Philippine general election Presidential elections, legislative and local elections were held in the Philippines on May 11, 1998. In the presidential election, Vice President of the Philippines, Vice President Joseph Estrada won a six-year term as President of the Philipp ...
ushered in a wave of neophyte congressmen into the House of Representatives, filling 140 seats of the 220-seat
Lower House A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...
. About a fifth of its members were under 40 years of age, roughly equivalent to
Generation X Generation X (often shortened to Gen X) is the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the ...
. This influx of young blood changed the way legislative business was undertaken and the image of the Filipino politician, most of whom were derided as ''trapos'' or "TRAditional POliticians". Incidentally, the Spanish word ''trapo'' means "rag", as in
rag doll A rag doll is a doll made from scraps of fabric. They are one of the oldest children's toys in existence. Today, many rag dolls are commercially produced to mimic aspects of the original home-made dolls, such as simple features, soft cloth bodies, ...
or dish rag. After Lakas–NUCD was reduced to 25 members at the height of the Charter-change debate in 1999 and became the minority bloc in the House, six young congressmen became media sensations due to their fervent opposition to the issue of making changes to the
Philippine Constitution The Constitution of the Philippines ( Filipino: ''Saligang Batas ng Pilipinas'' or ''Konstitusyon ng Pilipinas'') is the supreme law of the Philippines. Its final draft was completed by the Constitutional Commission on October 12, 1986, and rat ...
. This group came to be dubbed by the media as the "Spice Boys", effectively becoming the face and voice of the opposition. As of 2001, the members of the group are no longer in the opposition and are holding positions in the
Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...
or Congress.


Composition

The group consisted of: # Rolando Andaya, Jr. (Lakas) – 1st District,
Camarines Sur Camarines Sur (; ), officially the Province of Camarines Sur (Central Bikol language, Bikol: ''Probinsya kan Habagatan na Camarines''; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Bicol Region on Luzon. Its ca ...
# Robert Ace Barbers (Lakas) – 2nd District,
Surigao del Norte Surigao del Norte ( Surigaonon: ''Probinsya nan Surigao del Norte''; ; Tagalog: ''Hilagang Surigao''), officially the Province of Surigao del Norte, is a province in the Philippines located in the Caraga region of Mindanao. The province was fo ...
# Michael Defensor (Liberal) – 3rd District,
Quezon City Quezon City (, ; ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read and pronounced in Filipino language, Filipino as Kyusi), is the richest and List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 c ...
# Hernani Braganza (Lakas) – 1st District,
Pangasinan Pangasinan, officially the Province of Pangasinan (, ; ; ), is a coastal Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Ilocos Region of Luzon. Its capital is Lingayen, Pangasinan, Lingayen while San Carlos, Pangasi ...
# Federico Sandoval II (Lakas) –
Navotas Navotas, officially the City of Navotas (), is a Cities of the Philippines#Legal classification, highly urbanized city in the Metro Manila, National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 Philippine census, 2020 census, it ha ...
-
Malabon Malabon, officially the City of Malabon (), is a highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 380,522 people. Located just north of the city of Manila, Malabon is ...
#
Migz Zubiri Juan Miguel "Migz" Fernandez Zubiri (; born April 13, 1969) is a Filipino politician serving as a Senator of the Philippines. He was the 24th President of the Senate of the Philippines, Senate President of the Philippines from July 25, 2022 t ...
(Lakas) – 3rd District,
Bukidnon Bukidnon (), officially the Province of Bukidnon (; ; ; Bukid language, Binukid and Higaonon language, Higaonon: ''Probinsya ta Bukidnon''), is a landlocked Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Northern Mindan ...
# Magtanggol Gunigundo II (Lakas) – lone District,
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# Oscar Moreno (Lakas) – 1st District,
Misamis Oriental Misamis Oriental (; ; ), officially the Province of Misamis Oriental, is a Provinces of the Philippines, province located in the Regions of the Philippines, region of Northern Mindanao in the Philippines. The provincial capital, as well as its ...


Post EDSA II

After the
Second EDSA Revolution The Second EDSA Revolution (), also known as the Second People Power Revolution, EDSA 2001, or EDSA II (pronounced ''EDSA Two'' or ''EDSA Dos'', the Spanish word for "two"), was a political protest from January 17–20, 2001 which peacefully ...
, the Spice Boys were assigned key positions in the Arroyo administration. In 2003, the Spice Boys pledged their support for
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Maria Gloria Macaraeg Macapagal-Arroyo (; born April 5, 1947), often referred to as PGMA or GMA, is a Filipino academic and politician who served as the 14th president of the Philippines from Presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 2001 to 2010 ...
's 2004 Presidential campaign. In 2004, three were given committee chairmanships in the House of Representatives. Andaya became chairman of the appropriations committee; Barbers headed the accounts committee, and Zubiri, the committee on legislative franchises. Defensor became head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, while Braganza took over as agrarian reform secretary.


See also

*
11th Congress of the Philippines The 11th Congress of the Philippines (), composed of the Philippine Senate and House of Representatives, met from July 27, 1998, until June 8, 2001, during the 31-month presidency of Joseph Estrada and the first four months of Gloria Macapaga ...
* Bombay Talkie


References

{{reflist, 40em Living people Political party factions in the Philippines Year of birth missing (living people) Cliques Sextets Spice Girls