By Leonardo Micua 

 

POLITICAL dynasties weaken democratic institutions and produce poorer governance outcomes, particularly when “fat dynasties” allow multiple family members to simultaneously hold elective offices within the same jurisdiction.

The above did not come from me but rather from the exploratory note of Senate Bill No. 1548, which is a proposed Act Defining Political Dynasty and Prohibiting the Establishment thereof, introduced by Senator Riza Hontiveros.

If approved by Congress and signed into law by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., this Act will hopefully be implemented starting in the 2028 election, when members of the same families will not be allowed to seek elective posts simultaneously for the first time.

Admittedly, the 1987 Constitution, promulgated during the early years of the Corazon Aquino administration, contains an anti-political dynasty provision, but this could not be implemented without an enabling law passed by Congress.

Those in the Houses of Representatives and the Senate have time and again largely ignored the passage of an enabling law that will implement the constitutional provision on political dynasty.  The reason for this is obvious:  they have family members in various elective positions who, after the effectivity of the law, may no longer be allowed to run simultaneously in the next election.

However, S.B. No. 1548 and concurrent bills in the Senate and in the House of Representatives have only a ghost of a chance of passing unless certified as urgent by President Marcos, who — we all know— has also relatives occupying lower elective positions.

But if Marcos really wants a total reform in the government and restore the confidence of the people in his administration which is now being rocked by numerous people power protests, he must give way to the cry of the people for a ban on political dynasty.

The passage of an anti-political dynasty law was among the rallying cries of protesters against corruption in the November 30 Trillion Peso March before the EDSA People Power Monument, at Rizal Park, and in key cities around the nation that should be urgently addressed.

From Senator Hontiveros’ Senate Bill No. 1548, we learned of a statistical share of positions among officials of the same families in local government: 81% for governors and vice governors, 69% for mayors, and 57% for vice mayors.

In some towns in Ilocos, we heard that there were mayors whose wives or sons are the vice mayors or that the mother is the mayor with her husband or son as vice mayor.

In Pangasinan, there is only one place where the father is the mayor and his daughter is the vice mayor: the town of Bani, with apologies to my friend from way back, Mayor Facundo “Boying” Palafox, whose daughter Gwen Palafox-Yamamoto is from Bani.

But there are LGUs where siblings are the mayors and vice mayors. These are in Bolinao, where Jesus Celeste is the mayor, and his brother Arnold is the vice mayor; and in San Carlos City, where Julier Resuello is the mayor and his stepbrother, Joseres Resuello, is the vice mayor.

The case in Urdaneta City is different, as two cousins hold the highest elective positions: Mayor Rammy Parayno and his first cousin, Vice Mayor Jimmy Parayno.

In the May 12, 2025 election, the people of Dagupan City overwhelmingly rejected a first mother and son tandem to be their mayor and vice mayor. Incidentally, the two closest kin of the mother and son running for councilor were also nixed by the people.

The same family almost succeeded in 2019 when they fielded the patriarch and the son as their candidates for mayor and vice mayor, respectively. Only the son won, an indication that the people of Dagupan are against a political dynasty

Methinks, the Hontiveros bill and all other similar bills will suffer a rough sailing because the legislators are not stupid enough to hurt themselves with a self-inflicted wound. They would always be thinking of their own political interests, rather than the nation’s interests.