Anti-dynasty signature drive eyed

A COALITION of civil society groups plans to launch a signature campaign to pressure Congress into passing anti-political dynasty legislation if current efforts fall short, a former Supreme Court Justice said on Tuesday, as a congressional panel resumed hearings on proposals to curb dynastic dominance.

Ex-Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio said civil groups plan to mount a parallel initiative alongside the House of Representatives’ deliberations on the proposals to ban political dynasties, aiming to push for what they consider to be a version that should be adopted.

“Regardless of what happens here, we will mount a people’s initiative to adopt the kind of anti-political dynasty law that we believe should be enacted,” he told lawmakers.

Congressmen resumed debates on the scope of a proposed ban on political dynasties, a measure long pushed in Congress but repeatedly faltered for lack of support from a legislature dominated by dynastic families.

Most lawmakers come from political dynasties, with eight of 10 belonging to political families, according to a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.

Mr. Carpio said an effective ban on political dynasties should cover close and extended relatives, up to first cousins, great aunts and uncles, and bar family members from succeeding a politician who has served out their terms.

“The Constitution recognizes that the fourth degree of consanguinity can be a limitation on appointment,” he said, citing it as a justification for his proposal. “There can be no constitutional issue for that because it’s there in the Constitution.”

“No member of the political family can succeed the person who has finished three terms as congressman or party-list and two terms as senator,” he added.

House Deputy Minority Leader and Caloocan Rep. Edgar R. Erice said stretching the coverage of the ban on political dynasties up to fourth degree of relatives may hamstring the law and make enforcement nearly impossible.

“It’s possible the Commission on Elections could end up acting like a family court, sorting through cousins and relatives, and risk becoming arbitrary because it may be difficult to determine who should be allowed to run,” he told lawmakers.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. had declared a measure seeking to outlaw political families from dominating government posts as a priority. The 1987 Constitution explicitly prohibits political dynasties but required an enabling law to take effect.

Lawyer Christian S. Monsod, who helped draft the Constitution, said the framers “made a mistake” when it left the authority to ban dynasties to Congress.

“We underestimated the greed of politicians for power,” he told congressmen. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio