House unlikely to pass anti-dynasty bill — Osmeña

For Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, passing a bill preventing political families from reigning over the country’s political landscape could be done in the Senate, but it would be a different story when it comes to the House of Representatives. According to Osmeña, a veteran politician and himself coming from a political clan, the Senate was all set to submit a committee report on the anti-dynasty bill in 1995 but decided against it upon learning that their counterparts in the House will not act on it. “We already had a good definition of what is a dynasty when I first became a senator in 1995, and we were about to file a committee report and then, I don’t know if it was [then-Senator] Orly Mercado, who was the chair, he called his counterpart in the House, 'Ano ipapasa ba ninyo ito?' Sabi, ‘Don't bother to send us that bill. That will never be able to pass in the House.” Eh ‘di wala na, [we junked the bill] na lang, in-archive,” he told reporters on Thursday. He said the 1995 version of the anti-dynasty bill had a specific, realistic definition of a dynasty. “Kung governor ka at ‘yung anak mo gustong magiging mayor or congressman, dynasty ‘yun, prohibitive ‘yun,” Osmeña said. “But if you’re governor of one province and your brother or relative wants to run for governor of another province, hindi po dynasty ‘yun kasi wala naman akong influence dun, di ba?” he added.   He cited the case of Ted Kennedy, who had been a senator for Massachusetts in the US, and Robert Kennedy, who had been a senator from New York. “They called them, technically that’s what you call, they’re family, they’re related… so they’re a dynasty. But it was not through influence that they won their seats,” Osmeña said. Osmeña said an anti-dynasty bill is unlikely to prosper because of the opposition from the other half of Congress. The interview was conducted hours after former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr. led a group of petitioners in asking the Supreme Court to compel Congress to finally craft an enabling law on political dynasties.    Asked on the chances of the bill to be approved, Osmeña said the public should focus their effort on the House of Representatives. “Get it pass in the House first. It will pass the Senate,” he said. “I think you’d have a very stiff opposition in the lower House.” For the 2013 midterm elections, senators who have or might have a relative in the Senate are Pia Cayetano and brother, re-electionist Alan Peter Cayetano; Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and son Cagayan Rep. Juan Ponce “Jack” Enrile Jr; and Jinggoy Estrada and half brother, San Juan Rep. Jose Victor Ejercito. At present, an anti-dynasty bill — Senate Bill 2649, filed by Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago — is being discussed by the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation.   Under the bill, political dynasty exists when the spouse of an incumbent elective  official or relative within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity holds or runs for an  elective office simultaneously with the former within the same province or occupies the same  office immediately after the term of office of the incumbent official.   The bill further states that political dynasty exists where two or more spouse or relative within  the second degree of consanguinity or affinity run simultaneously for elective public office within the same province, even if  neither is related to an incumbent elective official. — Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News