Padilla files anti-political dynasty billPadilla files anti-political dynasty bill

FILE: Residents from the three districts in Davao City line up as early as 1 a.m. for voter registration at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) 11 at Magsaysay Park on Monday (Jan. 30, 2023). The Comelec will accept voter applications until Jan. 31. (PNA photo by Robinson Niñal Jr.)

By Leonel Abasola, Philippine News Agency 

MANILA – Senator Robin Padilla on Monday said he filed a measure seeking to finally fulfill the 1987 Constitution’s mandate to prohibit political dynasties.

Under his Senate Bill (SB) 2730, Padilla said it was time to break the barriers that prevent the best and the brightest from serving the Filipino people.

“Given that this measure complies with the legislature’s mandate to enact an anti-political dynasty law and is a step towards leveling the playing field in politics and governance, the passage thereof is earnestly sought,” he said in a news release.

Padilla, chair of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes, cited a Harvard Academy research study in 2011 that showed how political dynasties stem from the tendency of elites to “persist and reproduce their power over time, undermining the effectiveness of institutional reforms in the process.”

He also said a dataset of Philippine local elections from 1988 to 2019 showed the number of governors with at least one relative in office (dynasty) increased by almost 39 percentage points, from 41 percent in 1988 to 80 percent in 2019. The dynasty proportion of vice governors rose from 18 percent in 1988 to 68 percent in 2019.

The percentage of mayors in the dynasty increased gradually from 26 percent in 1988 to 53 percent in 2019.

Another study by Tusalem and Pe-Aguirre in 2013 noted that congressional funds are higher in areas with more political dynasties, but these provinces also have higher rates of crime and poor governance, as well as lower spending on employment, infrastructure, and health care.

“Political dynasties, in effect, have exhausted resources to attain economic and political dominance while at the same time compromising political competition and undermining accountability,” Padilla said.

Under SB 2730, Padilla proposed that no spouse or person related within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity, whether legitimate or illegitimate, full or half blood, to an incumbent elective official seeking re-election, “shall be allowed to hold or run for any elective office in the same city and/or province, or any party list in the same election.”

If the constituency of the incumbent elective official is national in character, such relatives shall be disqualified from running only within the same province where the former is domiciled or in any, including the same, national position.

“(N)o person who has a political dynasty relationship to the incumbent shall immediately succeed to the position of the latter,” the bill said.

The bill requires any person running for any elective public office to file a sworn statement with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that he or she does not have a political dynasty relationship with any incumbent public official running for an elective public office in the same city and/or province other than the position earlier mentioned.

A petition to disqualify a candidate on grounds of political dynasty may be filed before the Comelec, which will conduct summary proceedings. The Comelec shall deny due course to any certificate of candidacy filed in violation of the anti-political dynasty act.

While the votes for a respondent shall be counted if the Comelec cannot decide on the petition before the completion of the canvass, his or her proclamation shall be suspended if the basis for disqualification is strong. If the disqualified candidate has been proclaimed, the candidate shall ipso facto forfeit the right to assume the office.