House aims to pass anti-dynasty bill before July SONA

THE House of Representatives is moving to pass a bill banning political dynasties by the end of March, aiming to include the measure in President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July, a lawmaker said on Thursday.

Lanao del Sur Rep. Ziaur-Rahman Alonto Adiong, who heads the House Suffrage and Electoral Reforms Committee, said congressional leaders are pressed for time to complete discussions on the long-pending measure, which the Marcos administration has flagged as a priority.

“The leadership wants this measure to be done before the Lenten break because they want the anti-political dynasty bill to be part of the SONA of the President,” he told reporters.

Congress is scheduled to adjourn by March 20 and will resume sessions on May 4.

House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Edgar R. Erice said the law must be enacted before 2027 to allow the Commission on Elections to draft implementing rules ahead of the 2028 elections.

Both the House and Senate are conducting public consultations on measures to bar members of political dynasties from seeking public office. Mr. Adiong said stakeholders’ inputs are key to shaping a “responsive and reflective version” of the law.

Senator Loren Regina B. Legarda filed the seventh anti-dynasty bill, Senate Bill No. 1854, which seeks to prevent spouses and relatives within the second civil degree of national or local officials from running in the same district, province, or city. The measure also bars simultaneous or successive candidacy of related people across levels of government.

“This proposed act does not seek to punish families, nor curtail the right of citizens to vote,” Ms. Legarda said in the bill’s explanatory note. “It aims to level the political playing field, expand meaningful electoral choice and restore the primacy of merit, competence and accountability in public service.”

Senate Electoral Reforms Chairperson Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel said the committee would review all seven bills, considering kinship limits, scope of prohibition and whether the ban should apply simultaneously or successively.

President Marcos has made curbing political dynasties a priority after public backlash over alleged funneling of billions of pesos to congressional districts, making the bill a key part of his governance reform agenda.

Efforts to pass anti-dynasty legislation in previous Congresses stalled, largely due to the Legislature’s dominance by political families.

Eight in 10 lawmakers belong to dynasties, according to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism. — Adrian H. Halili