The Path to a Genuine Anti-Dynasty Law
THE NATIONAL Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) calls on Congress, civil society, and the Filipino people to commit to nothing less than a genuine, comprehensive anti-political dynasty law. Such a law must include, at minimum, the following elements:
• Fourth-Degree Coverage – The prohibition must extend to the fourth degree of consanguinity and affinity, covering first cousins, uncles, aunts, nephews, and nieces — consistent with Philippine civil law’s definition of close family relations.
• Vertical Bans Across Government Tiers – The law must prohibit family members from simultaneously occupying positions across different levels of government — national, congressional, provincial, and municipal — within the same geographic area of influence.
• Party-List Restrictions – Families must not be permitted to use the party-list system to circumvent local office restrictions. Representatives of party-list organizations must be subject to the same dynastic prohibitions.
• Strict Succession and Cooling-Off Rules – The law must prohibit the rotation of power between relatives – the spousal or sibling swap – by mandating meaningful cooling-off periods that prevent immediate familial succession to the same post.
• One Seat Per Family Rule – A credible anti-dynasty law should move toward limiting any single family to one national seat and one local seat at any given time, preventing the vertical monopoly of an entire region by a single clan.
A Call to the Bicameral Conference Committee
The bill now proceeds to the Senate, where counterpart measures with significantly stronger provisions have been filed and deliberated. NAMFREL calls on both chambers of Congress to approach the bicameral conference process not as a negotiation to water down the stronger Senate version, but as an opportunity to forge a law worthy of the Constitution’s vision.
We urge the Bicameral Conference Committee to reconcile the House and Senate versions in favor of the strongest, most comprehensive standards: fourth-degree coverage, vertical bans, party-list inclusion, and strict anti-succession provisions.
The Filipino people have waited 39 years for this law. They deserve the real thing — not a legislative shortcut that protects the dynasties it purports to dismantle.
NAMFREL places Congress on notice: if the bicameral process produces a final law that is no stronger than HB 8389 in its current form – one riddled with the same loopholes, the same narrow scope, and the same deference to entrenched power – we will join and actively support the growing movement for a People’s Initiative to bring a genuine anti-dynasty measure directly to the Filipino people for ratification.
The Constitution provides this remedy precisely for moments when Congress fails its democratic mandate. We will not hesitate to use it.
Political dynasties are not merely a political inconvenience. They are a structural barrier to the equal participation of every Filipino in democratic governance. NAMFREL was founded on the belief that elections must be genuinely free and fair – and that ideal is impossible so long as a handful of families hold a hereditary grip on Philippine public office.
The moment to act is now. The bicameral committee must rise to the occasion, or the people will./PN
