Pangilinan dares Duterte: Certify as urgent anti-political dynasty bill

Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan on Sunday challenged President Rodrigo Duterte to certify a bill against political dynasty as urgent, a move that constitutes a tangible proof of the administration's desire to dismantle the practice.

“Tagal na nitong nakabinbin. Nakasaad pa sa Saligang Batas. Kailangang sumulong ito sa Kongreso, at mangyayari lang ito kung sasabihin ng pangulo,” Pangilinan, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes, said.

Pangilinan said he agrees with Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon’s observation that there should be a ban on political dynasties

President Rodrigo Duterte, during a televised speech aired on Tuesday, boasted of being able to dismantle oligarchy without declaring martial law.

An “unedited” version of the said speech that surfaced indicated that Duterte mentioned the ABS-CBN when he talked about the oligarchy that he dismantled.

But presidential spokesperson Harry Roque insisted that Duterte in that speech did not refer to the ABS-CBN Corporation—which has recently been denied franchise by the House of Representatives.

He said Duterte was referring to tycoon Lucio Tan, the Ayalas and Manuel V. Pangilinan whom Duterte have locked horns with in the past.

But Senator Pangilinan said that an oligarchy is “usually characterized by the control of one family and transfer of power from one generation to the next.”

As wealth means power and political control, the political elites in the country perpetuate themselves by means of political dynasties, Pangilinan pointed out.

Pangilinan filed Senate Bill 264 in July 2019, defining and prohibiting political dynasties. However, as in the past initiatives of some senators, he said the bill has “hardly moved.”

He stressed that Congress has the constitutional duty to enact a law defining and prohibiting the establishment of political dynasties in accordance with the intent of Section 26, Article 2 of the 1987 Constitution.

“Three decades later and despite numerous attempts to enact such legislation, there is still no enabling law prohibiting political dynasties in the country. Thus, its existence has undermined the checks and balance in government, weakened the competition in the political system, resulting in less access for alternative leaders to be part of the political arena, and perpetuated personality-based politics by prompting politicians to invest in their relatives,” Pangilinan said in his bill.

Likewise, the senator said that various data also show that dynasties are pervasive in the 10 poorest provinces in the country.

“While several bills have been filed in the past—with the Senate even coming up with a committee report on the anti-dynasty bill in the 17th Congress— these were never really acted upon and advanced to become a law,” he said.

“We challenge this administration to make a difference and certify the anti-political dynasty bill as urgent, so that it will move in Congress,” Pangilinan added.

At least two anti-dynasty bills have been filed in the Senate under the 18th Congress. —LBG, GMA News