Koko Pimentel confident of anti-political dynasty bill passage in the Senate

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III expressed confidence Friday that the proposed anti-political dynasty law will be approved in the Senate after 13 senators signed a committee report recommending it.

“We can pass that in the Senate,” Pimentel said.

He added that if the move to amend the Constitution will push through, a self-executing anti-political dynasty provision will be incorporated in it.

“We will also incorporate a self-executing anti-political dynasty provision in the new Constitution. Hence, the House of Representatives has no choice but to accept the reality that there will soon be an anti-political dynasty law,” he said.

Article II Section 26 of the 1987 Constitution reads: "The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law."

This provision, however, needs an enabling law.

Senator Ralph Recto said he agrees with the earlier statement of President Rodrigo Duterte that the anti-political dynasty law will be difficult to pass.

He said he signed the report of the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people's participation with amendments to make it more acceptable to the House and Malacañang similar to what they included in the Sangguniang Kabataan Reform Law.

“I am thinking of a version that may be acceptable to the House and Palace so we can move it forward. We must recall that we passed an anti-dynasty provision for the Sangguniang Kabataan elections that was acceptable to all,” he said.

Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, on the other hand, said he opposes the anti-political dynasty bill as it is unfair to legitimate family members.

“I signed dissenting. An anti-political dynasty bill is unfair to legitimate family members. A wife or anyone in the second degree of consanguinity may not run for public office but mistresses and their relatives may?” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Frank Drilon, Senators Risa Hontiveros, Loren Legarda, Panfilo Lacson, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, Nancy Binay, Sonny Angara, Ralph Recto, Leila de Lima, Sherwin Gatchalian, and Francis Pangilinan signed Committee Report No. 367 or Senate Bill 1765.

The consolidated bill effectively prohibits immediate and extended relatives from running for public office to succeed or replace or simultaneously seek a post as an incumbent relative in the same area, among others.

It limits the prohibition to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity. This covers spouses (legal and common-law), siblings (full or half-blood), parents, children (legitimate, illegitimate, and adopted) and the children's spouses.

The bill also prohibits an incumbent national elective official, including a party-list representative, to have these same set of relatives run for any position in the national and local levels, including as barangay captain, mayor, governor, or district representative in any part of the country. The vice versa also applies. —KG, GMA News