Crush political dynasties now or forever suffer corruption

There are five kinds of political dynasties, says Kontra Dynastiya founder Alex Lacson:

(1) Succession. Parent passes on elective position to offspring, husband to wife, sibling to another and the like.

Only a hundred families have controlled most provinces and cities since the last 20 years of Spanish rule. Those locales are today’s poorest. Dynasties only enrich themselves, not their constituents. Sara Duterte came close to running for president to succeed her father Rodrigo had she not been convinced to slide down to VP for Bongbong Marcos, son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr.

(2) Running-in-Tandem. Spouses, parent and offspring, siblings, et cetera run at the same time for governor or mayor and vice.

They get to control local executive positions and legislative assemblies. No checks and balances in determining projects and budgets. This was most prevalent in Elections 2022 and 2025. Dynasts have come to control 80 percent of local governments. Examples: the Cua and Kho siblings of Catanduanes and Masbate.

(3) Simultaneous. Spouses, parents, offspring, etc. run at the same time for various national and local positions.

Most senators and congressmen have kinsmen in local governments. They control public works, trade, investments, transportation, mining, media, even hardware stores and gas stations.

Most notorious were the Ampatuan warlords of Maguindanao, as governor, vice governor, mayors, vice mayors in 2009, when they massacred 58 journalists and Mangudadatu kinswomen. Today, BBM’s son Sandro and VP Sara’s brother Paolo are House members.

(4) Congress and local assembly. Relatives sit at the same time in the Senate, House of Reps, provincial board, city or municipal council.

There are four pairs of siblings in the Senate: the Tulfos (a third brother nearly won), Estradas, Villars, Cayetanos. They have relatives in the House of Reps and in local governments. Speaker Faustino Dy III represents Isabela’s Sixth District; nephews Ian Paul and Faustino Michael, the Third and Fifth Districts; plus 14 other relatives in local or ambassadorial positions. Ex-Speaker Martin Romualdez sits at the House with wife Yedda and their son Andrew Julian; another son Ferdinand Martin is Tacloban City councilor.

(5) Party-list. Nominees of a party-list are relatives. Or dynasts sneak in to the House via the party-list backdoor.

Examples are again Yedda Romualdez and son Andrew of Tingog party-list. In 2022, Sen. Raffy Tulfo’s wife Jocelyn and brother Erwin were ACT-CIS representatives. In the 19th Congress, 36 of 54 party-lists had at least one nominee belonging to a political family, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reported.

All this resulted from a terrible mistake of the 1987 Constitutional authors, Lacson says. While they banned political dynasties, they left to Congress the defining and enacting of the ban.

The authors forgot that dynasticism plagued all congresses – from Malolos to Commonwealth to First Republic to Batasan.

That’s why for 39 years now, despite the 1987 Constitutional directive, dynastic lawmakers have not prohibited themselves.

Dynasticism goes against two constitutional principles: representative democracy and accountability. Result: potential electees are shut out of the process. People come to rely on political dynastic patronage. Accountability vanishes.

Dynasticism reared its corrupt head at least thrice in the past two decades, Lacson recounts:

• P728-million fertilizer scam. Congressmen and local kinsmen received campaign contributions from Malacañang: P728 million in cash, recorded as liquid fertilizers, even in highly urbanized locales. Court cases were still being heard up to 2014.

• P10-billion Napoles racket. Pork barrel fixer Janet Lim Napoles stole P10 billion for 20 senators, 100 congressmen and their kinsmen in local positions. Only a handful were charged; only Napoles was convicted. The Sandiganbayan resolved the last case only in September 2025.

• P1.7-trillion flood works scandal. More than 5,500 flood control projects from 2016-2025 turned out to be fake or faulty. Only a handful of crooked contractors pocketed P1.7 trillion along with DPWH bureaucrats, lawmakers and dynasty members in local posts.

How much more should the country lose before reforming the political system?

An anti-dynasty law should be passed to cover up to the fourth degree of consanguinity (related by blood) and affinity (by marriage), Lacson proposes:

• First degree – Spouses, parents, offspring;

• Second degree – Siblings and their spouses, grandparents, grandchildren and spouses;

• Third degree – Great-grandparents, great-grandchildren, uncles and aunts and spouses;

• Fourth degree – cousins and their spouses.

Extramarital partners and offspring should be included. If mistresses and illegitimate offspring can be kept secret from wives, then more so from the public. Still, ways must be set to flush them out if running for office.

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