The race to pass an anti-dynasty law

Metro Manila, Philippines – The Supreme Court has admonished Congress to pass a law that will prohibit political dynasties, warning that it faces a possible case of “grave abuse of discretion” for failure to act on the constitutional provision for nearly four decades. 

The court noted in its unanimous ruling that the charter required lawmakers to define and identify the scope of the restriction, in line with Article 2, Section 26 of the Constitution that provides, “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

In early June, two months before the SC issued its decision on four consolidated cases, the House of Representatives passed its version of an anti-political dynasty measure, House Bill (HB) 8389.

The bill was authored by Speaker Bojie Dy and House Majority Leader and presidential son Sandro Marcos, who themselves are products of major political clans in national and local positions for decades. Its approval in the House was in response to the call of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to pass the measure within his term.

But despite this development, critics said the House bill may even protect established political families rather than dismantle them.

Possible loopholes

HB 8389 narrows its prohibition to relatives within the second civil degree of consanguinity (by blood) or affinity (by marriage). 

First-degree relatives are parents and children; second-degree are siblings and grandparents; third-degree are aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews; and fourth-degree extends to first cousins.

While the bill restricts spouses, children, parents, and siblings from running simultaneously or directly succeeding one another in certain posts, it leaves extended networks unmonitored, such as uncles, nieces, and first cousins.

Election watchdogs said this limited scope ignores the reality of so-called “fat” dynasties, where clans distribute public offices across wide extended families to retain their grip on local and national governance.

HB 8389 also restricts relatives from simultaneously holding office within the same geographic jurisdiction, therefore, on the flip side, opening the gates for family members to seek office outside the clan’s influence.

For Dennis Coronacion, chairman of the Department of Political Science at the University of Santo Tomas, the kinship provision in HB 8389 falls short of the constitutional mandate.

“The version that should be upheld or enacted [should be] up to the one that requires fourth degree of family members,” Coronacion told NewsWatch Plus in an interview.

He said a cap lower than the fourth civil degree would only accomplish half of the job.

“Kumbaga [essentially] it only regulates the simultaneous occupation of family members of various public offices, nare-regulate niya lang [it would only regulate]. But the aim of the Constitution is to ‘prohibit’, because that’s the word used in the provision about dynasties,” Coronacion said.

“If hindi niya napo-prohibit, nare-regulate niya lang. Nako-control niya by prescribing the number of family members per locality or per level,” he added.

[If the law cannot prohibit, it can only regulate. It can only be controlled by prescribing the number of family members per locality or per level.]

In essence, a workaround could prompt political clans to have their members run and expand horizontally into other positions in different regions, provinces, or even assume seats in the legislature through party-lists.

Relatively, they can also bypass term limits by rotating the position among family members or leveraging funds for patronage.

For the 2025 midterm polls, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism counted at least 18 “obese” dynasties, referring to clans whose five members are active in the political scene.

In limbo

Although the Senate has yet to pass its own version of an anti-dynasty law, it has begun discussions early this year.

In January, Senator Risa Hontiveros chaired the committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation, tasked to lead the upper chamber’s push for the measure.

After nationwide public consultations, including stops in Pasig, Bacolod, and Cagayan de Oro cities, the Senate panel consolidated proposals into Senate Bill (SB) 1901 under committee report 33.

Like the House version, the Senate measure limits relatives to within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity and bans them from simultaneously holding elective posts. 

However, SB 1901 goes further by explicitly prohibiting immediate succession between family members—a restriction that is absent in the House bill.

By late February, the bill reached plenary discussion, but was stalled after a leadership change.

In a manifestation on Sept. 17, the same day when the SC announced its ruling, Hontiveros urged her colleagues to resume deliberations on the bill.

Hontiveros said she respects the new committee leadership and is prepared to turn over completed work for progress to resume. Senator Jinggoy Estrada is the committee chairman, but he has been detained over plunder charges.

“We now have a bill that has already gone through committee hearings and has reached the plenary. We do not have to begin again from zero,” she said.

People’s initiative

As Congress is largely composed of dynastic families, Coronacion said he understands the clamor by certain civil society groups pushing for a people’s initiative to “genuinely” fulfill the anti-dynasty provision.

He said people have grown tired of waiting for lawmakers to act on the mandate for decades, and the SC decision has only added to the urgency.

Under the Constitution, a people’s initiative enables citizens to directly propose and enact national laws through a petition and referendum, bypassing congressional debates and presidential approval.

To proceed to a national referendum, it requires the verified signatures of at least 10 percent of the country’s total registered voters, with at least 3 percent representation from every legislative district.

Coronacion believes the people’s initiative route has a better chance of enacting an ideal anti-dynasty law with a fourth-degree limit.

“I think it has a higher success rate compared to the traditional route of enacting a law, which is going to be all the readings and then the president would approve it,” he said.

In early May, former government officials, legal luminaries, and church leaders launched the “Dapat 1sa Lang” movement and have since begun a signature campaign with a goal to pass a law prohibiting political dynasties up to the fourth civil degree of consanguinity and affinity.

The coalition is aiming to gather seven million signatures by October and is eyeing a referendum in early 2027, just in time before the filing of candidacies for the next election cycle.

Race before 2028

Coronacion said the possibility of Congress passing a fourth degree anti-dynasty law may be a long shot at this point.

He said political clans who have entrenched themselves wouldn’t easily commit, let alone yield, to a measure that might end their dominance and power.

“I’m not very optimistic, although, of course, I am still hoping that a stringent anti-dynasty law will be enacted, but considering the composition of the current Congress, wherein [the] majority of the members of the House as well as the Senate belong to dynasties, I don’t think there is going to be a big chance that it’s going to be enacted before the elections,” Coronacion said.

“Because the logic behind it is that no lawmaker, who is a member of a dynasty, would support that kind of law because that’s detrimental to their interest, [and] to their family interest,” he added.

With the House version passed and the Senate version still pending in plenary, the court has held that this provision is not merely an aspiration but a constitutional command. 

And with the 2028 general election just around the corner, the bill is a race to the finish as to the names of candidates that will be allowed to be printed on the ballot.