MANILA: The House of Representatives on Wednesday (June 3) passed on third and final reading a bill barring second-degree relatives from holding public office simultaneously, advancing the proposal further than any similar effort since the 1987 Constitution prohibited political dynasties.
With 267 lawmakers voting in favour, 20 against and seven abstaining, the lower chamber approved Bill No. 8389, which bars spouses and relatives of up to a second degree of consanguinity and affinity from occupying elected posts at the same time amid calls for a wider scope.
“We now call upon our counterparts in the Senate to swiftly approve this important measure,” Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said in a statement after the vote.
The 1987 Constitution prohibits political dynasties, but requires an enabling law for it to take effect. Its Senate counterpart is pending on second reading.
The bill, led by Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III and Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos III – both from political clans – defined dynasties as the “concentration, consolidation or dominance of elective political power” among a few families.
President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has made curbing political dynasties a priority of his administration, framing it as a pillar of his governance reform agenda, which he rolled out after a multibillion-peso graft scandal engulfed his government.
The bill requires political candidates to file a sworn affidavit declaring that they have no relatives seeking elective office that would lead to “any prohibited dynasty relationship” after the filing of their candidacy certificate.
Candidates must also inform the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) of any relatives also running for office as soon as they become aware of it, the bill added.
In the event that relatives run and win seats at the same political level, such as the Senate, then the candidate with the highest vote count will take the seat, according to HB 8389.
For relatives running within the same political unit but at different levels, the candidate elected to the higher office will assume the post.
First and second degrees of consanguinity and affinity refer to the familial relationships between a person and their parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and half-siblings, as well as those of the person’s spouse.
An anti-dynasty law has long been pushed in Congress, but has repeatedly faltered for a lack of support from a legislature dominated by political families.
The last time such a measure was taken up on the House floor was more than a decade ago, during the 16th Congress.
Eight in 10 congressmen are part of dynasties, according to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
Public office in the Philippines has often been treated like an heirloom, passed down from one family generation to the next. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
