This will definitely change the game, so to speak.
“The House of Representatives Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms unanimously approved on Wednesday, Nov 20, the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill, which seeks to ban the relatives of an incumbent official up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity from running in the same elections,” reports Paolo Romero in The Philippine Star.
According to the report, the approved measure is a consolidation of three bills. It also bans the “overlap of relatives’ terms in office and allows the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to hold a raffle to decide who in the clan would be permitted to run in the election in case none of the candidates in the same family refuses to withdraw.”
ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, who is a co-author of the bill, revealed that the original version was supposed to cover relatives up to the fourth degree of consanguinity. That provision was nixed as the expanded coverage would cover too many people.
Ironically, a similar anti-political dynasty bill was filed in the Senate by Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito, who, as everyone knows, has high-profile relatives in government. For starters, there’s his father Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, half-brother Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, and mother San Juan Mayor Guia Gomez.
Photo by Robert Vinas
