A coalition of business organizations and good-governance advocates is pressing senators to reject the antidynasty bill cleared by the House of Representatives, arguing that the measure would entrench political families rather than break their hold on power.
In a joint statement, the groups warned that House Bill No. 8389 would let a single clan occupy the posts of governor, district representative and mayor within one province at the same time, while other relatives hold national positions such as senator, vice president or president.
The signatories pointed to what they described as a pathway to “unlimited succession,” explaining that an official barred by term limits could pass the office directly to a spouse, child or sibling with no interval in between. They added that nothing would prevent kin from trading seats as terms lapse, or relatives outside the second degree—uncles, aunts and cousins—from spreading across every tier of government.
“We strongly reject HB 8389. We call on the Senate to refuse to act on this measure and on the President to veto it should it reach his desk,” the groups said.
The measure cleared its third and final reading in the House on June 3. It would prohibit relatives within the second degree of consanguinity and affinity from holding elective office at the same level of government, yet it leaves clan members free to seek posts simultaneously at the national level, in Congress, and in provincial and city or municipal seats.
“Instead of fulfilling the mandate of our 1987 Constitution to dismantle political dynasties, it does the exact opposite: it institutionalizes the entrenched control of political families,” the statement read, adding that Filipinos deserve to be freed from the grip of dynasties.
The signing organizations included the Management Association of the Philippines, the Makati Business Club, the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, the Shareholders’ Association of the Philippines, the Justice Reform Initiative, the Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting and the Philippine Institute of Arbitrators.
Their appeal landed a day before a special session convened by President Marcos to take up priority legislation, the antidynasty proposal among them. The Senate has not yet passed a counterpart bill, though its committee on electoral reforms has endorsed Senate Bill No. 1901, which would bar relatives within the second degree from holding local or national posts either at the same time or in succession.
Earlier proposals from the Makabayan and Akbayan blocs had gone further, seeking to cover relatives up to the fourth degree and to block them from running together or immediately replacing one another in the same office.
