Expect Congress to defy SC, thwart anti-dynasty initiative
A hundred political dynasties have ruled for a century. They won’t readily give up lucrative family business.
Of 254 district congressmen, 205 or 81 percent are dynasts. They’ve infiltrated partylists for the marginalized; 32 of 61 partylist reps come from dynasties.
Three congressmen are close kin of the Vice President, who has three more relatives in local office.
The House Speaker has 15 relatives in Congress and Isabela local positions, and two Executive posts. The Majority Leader is the son of the President, who has a senator-sister, three more close kin in the House, and seven others in Ilocos and Leyte local posts.
Among 24 senators are four pairs of siblings. They and six more senators have congressman-spouses, offspring, siblings, or cousins. Five have offspring or siblings in local elective or national appointive posts. One packed his staff with ten relatives. Only four have no kin in government. Eighty-three percent of senators are dynasts.
Dynastic privilege is most visible in pork barrels, which the Supreme Court outlawed in 2013:
• Rep. Paolo Duterte got P51.8 billion in the last three years of father President Rody Duterte’s term, 2020-2022. His Davao City district was the “epicenter of flood control corruption”, the Ombudsman said.
• Ex-Speaker Martin Romualdez got P57.5 billion in the first three years of cousin President Bongbong Marcos’ term, 2023-2025. He masterminded the flood work scam, the Ombudsman added.
• BBM’s son Majority Leader Sandro Marcos got P39.2 billion, Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism reported.
• Speaker Faustino Dy III got P3.8 billion in 2026, more than thrice the P1 billion originally slated for Isabela’s 6th district, PCIJ said. In 2023-2025 then-6th district Rep. Faustino Dy V got P10.7 billion, while 5th district Rep. Faustino Michael Carlos Dy III got P10.5 billion.
• Ex-DPWH Sec. Manuel Bonoan told the Sandiganbayan that he granted P500 million “leadership fund” per senator per year in the 19th Congress, 2022-2025. Senators availed of P13.29 billion in 2024 and P21 billion in 2025; Bong Revilla got P150 million as public works committee chairman.
For 39 years now, Congress hasn’t enacted a law against dynasties. “Grave abuse of discretion,” fifteen SC justices unanimously ruled Aug. 26.
The 1987 Constitution requires in Article II, State Principles, Section 26: “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”
The SC listed four “relevant considerations” for prohibition, culled from scholarly research:
(1) Up to fourth degree of consanguinity and affinity, including half-blood, adoptive, step, legitimate or illegitimate, and common-law relationships;
(2) Simultaneous and successive offices;
(3) National and local positions including barangays;
(4) Not only within the same province but by region.
The Dy-Marcos bill that the House passed in June is a farce:
• It forbids simultaneous positions only up to the second degree, and allows uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins, and in-laws.
• It allows political succession by spouses, offspring, parents, siblings, and in-laws, thus skirting term limits so clans can monopolize specific government seats.
• It treats the President, VP, and Senate as national, but the House as local although part of Congress, thus expanding dynasties there. It forbids relatives from running within the same legislative district, yet allows them in different localities or separate government branches.
• It excludes partylists from coverage. During plenary debates, amendments to ban partylist dynasties were rejected, thus creating a backdoor for dynastic expansion.
• It omits appointive positions and deals only with elective ones. It perpetuates the practice of politicos securing influential unelected appointive government positions for family members, further cementing clan grip on state resources and institutional power.
Dy and Marcos said they tailored the bill for supermajority dynasts, or else there won’t be a bill at all. What 267 of 318 or 83.9 percent of congressmen approved was a bill that would perpetuate dynasties.
Congress shouldn’t be let to satisfy the SC ruling with a watered-down measure, said Alyansa ng Nagkakaisang Mamamayan, led by retired generals and colonels:
“A law that merely regulates dynasties, allows relatives to alternate in office, or legitimizes a family’s continued control of government positions would betray the Constitution’s true intention. Such a measure could strengthen political dynasties instead of dismantling them.”
Seventy percent of Filipinos want dynasties banned, Pulse Asia polled in March. Dynasts stunt economic growth, control local businesses, and withhold permits from rivals. Even scholarships and healthcare depend on dynasts’ endorsement, lamented Atty. Eirene Aguila of Dapat Isa Lang: “They keep people poor and reliant on dole outs.”
The People’s Initiative must gather ten million voters’ signatures – three percent per legislative district and 12 percent nationwide. Comelec, chaired by BBM’s former election lawyer, must validate the signatures. Dynastic Congress must allot billions for a ratificatory plebiscite.
Dynasts can employ guns, goons, and gold to sabotage the process.
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