THE chairman of the House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms on Thursday said an anti-political dynasty law alone will not widen political participation, stressing that the measure must be paired with campaign finance reforms and broader electoral changes.
Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said banning dynasties is only “one step” toward improving the country’s political system.
“The anti-political dynasty [bill] is not a stand-alone solution if we talk about widening the access for political participation,” Adiong said in a press conference after the first public consultation on the proposed Anti-Political Dynasty Act in Carmona City Cavite, the Luzon leg of his committee’s nationwide hearings.
“It should be paired with campaign finance. We should also review our campaign finance because we are talking of resources that would give due advantage to a certain politician who has so many resources over that of a candidate with no resources at all,” he added.
Adiong said reforming campaign finance rules is crucial to leveling the playing field, noting that access to resources often determines who can realistically run for office.
He said that if the country wants a more mature political system, lawmakers must revisit other laws to improve not only the electoral process but also the overall quality of politics, including strengthening electoral education, improving civic maturity and reinforcing the party system.
Adiong said Congress must also take up other reform measures, including proposals under the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council such as amendments to the Party-list Act and the proposed Anti-Turncoatism Act, as part of efforts to strengthen the political system.
Adiong said the legislature should also revisit the decades-old Omnibus Election Code to modernize election rules.
“I think it is also high time we visit ‘yung Omnibus Election Code. We have to update the electoral system and that also includes our campaign financing,” he said.
The Cavite hearing marked the first of three regional consultations on 24 anti-political dynasty bills, with succeeding sessions scheduled in Cebu City for the Visayas leg and Cagayan de Oro City for Mindanao.
The nationwide consultations were initiated by Speaker Faustino “Bojie” G. Dy III, who also filed his own version of the anti-political dynasty bill with House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” A. Marcos.
Adiong said the committee heard various positions from stakeholders and organizations during what he described as a “lively discussion,” and that their inputs would be incorporated into the final draft for plenary debate.
“Definitely, they would be part of our basis to approach on how we provide legal definition on what really constitute political dynasty in this country,” Adiong said.
Adiong said lawmakers must determine the degree of civil relationship to be covered in order to strike a balance between concerns that some local governments are effectively run by certain political families and the constitutional mandate to prohibit political dynasties during elections.
He said the debate now centers on how far the prohibition should extend in terms of consanguinity.
“I guess the way to settle it to probably define and determine the degree of civil relationship,” Adiong pointed out.
“Now, the debate boils down to the issue of whether anti-political dynasty provision in the Constitution would translate to fourth degree. Would that be a fourth degree prohibition or would that be only second degree prohibition? I think that’s the way to balance that out.”
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