Robin files bill versus dynasties
A PHILIPPINE senator on Monday filed a bill that seeks to bar members of the same political dynasty from running for public office during an election.
“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,” Senator Robin Ferdinand C. Padilla said in the explanatory note of Senate Bill No. 2730.
Vice-President Sara Z. Duterte-Carpio last month said her father ex-President Rodrigo R. Duterte and her brothers Davao City Rep. Paolo Z. Duterte and Davao City Mayor Sebastian Z. Duterte would run for Senate seats in the midterm elections next year.
Mr. Padilla described the prospect as “very good news,” saying he would have three more allies in the Senate.
But in a separate statement on Monday, he said political dynasties have exhausted resources to attain economic and political dominance “while at the same time compromising political competition and undermining accountability.”
“It is time to break the barriers preventing the best and the brightest from serving the Filipino people,” he added.
Mr. Padilla’s media relations officer did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment
Under the measure, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) may deny the candidacy or disqualify the election of an incumbent official’s spouse or a relative within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity, or those who have common ancestors running for public office.
The bill defines a political dynasty as two or more people who are spouses or relatives who run simultaneously for public office within the same city and province or as nominees to any party-list.
The number of governors with at least one relative in office rose from 41% in 1988 to 80% in 2019, Mr. Padilla said in a separate statement, citing Philippine election data
The 1987 Constitution mandates the state to guarantee “equal access to opportunities for public service” and to ban political dynasties.
Last year, Senate Minority Floor Leader Aquilino Martin D. Pimentel III called for changes to the party-list system by introducing safeguards against political dynasties.
He said the government of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. should work on enhancing the country’s system of governance before easing economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution. — John Victor D. Ordoñez