12 senators sign panel report on anti-dynasty bill

MANILA, Philippines —  The Senate bill banning political dynasties is now up for plenary approval after hurdling the committee level last week.

A compromise version prohibiting relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity and affinity from simultaneously holding or succeeding each other in public office has been agreed upon by the Senate electoral reforms committee.

Panel chair Sen. Risa Hontiveros yesterday sponsored Senate Bill 1901, with 12 senators signing the committee report.

Hontiveros acknowledged that the report’s second-degree ban is a compromise compared to the stricter fourth-degree prohibition originally proposed in her version of the bill.

“At least for the very first anti-political dynasty bill mandated by the Constitution way back in 1987, it is a first step,” Hontiveros said.

The Charter explicitly bans political dynasties, but the provision requires an enabling law from Congress.

For nearly four decades, proposals have languished in the legislative mill.

A second-degree ban could affect roughly 30 percent of existing political dynasties nationwide as early as the 2028 elections, Hontiveros said, citing a study.

The ban covers an incumbent official’s parents, siblings, spouse and children, as well as grandparents, grandchildren, parents-in-law, daughters or sons-in-law and siblings-in-law.

Hontiveros expressed hope that the Senate can pass the measure by the end of March, before Congress goes on break.

Senators JV Ejercito and Francis Pangilinan co-sponsored the bill.

Signatories are Hontiveros, Ejercito, Pangilinan, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senators Loren Legarda, Sherwin Gatchalian, Bam Aquino, Lito Lapid, Erwin Tulfo, Robinhood Padilla and Imee Marcos.

Turncoatismban

Meanwhile, a House bill prohibiting legislators from switching political parties has been filed by Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima and five other Liberal Party lawmakers.

“Political opportunism and turncoatism should never be encouraged, much less tolerated, as they undermine the values of honor, integrity and accountability essential to public service,” they said in House Bill 7914, or the Political Party System Reform Act.

“Political butterflies who switch party affiliations with little to no regard for ideology or party programs” should be punished, they asserted.

Authors of HB 7914 include Reps. Adrian Michael Amatong (Zamboanga del Norte), Arlene Bag-ao (Dinagat Islands), Jaime Fresnedi (Muntinlupa), Cielo Krisel Lagman (Albay) and Alfonso Umali Jr. (Oriental Mindoro).  – Delon Porcalla, Louella Desiderio