CALOOCAN City District 2 Rep. Edgar Erice has urged his colleagues at the lower chamber to finally enact a genuine anti-political dynasty law, saying they must comply with the Constitution and heed the Supreme Court’s finding that their 39-year failure to do so constituted grave abuse of discretion.
Erice criticized the Congress for keeping Filipinos to wait for nearly four decades to fulfill the constitutional mandate to prohibit political dynasties.
In August this year, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress has a mandatory constitutional duty to enact such a law and that its failure to do so for 39 years constituted grave abuse of discretion. The Court directed Congress to act with utmost urgency.
He said the difficulty lies in the fact that Congress is being asked to regulate a system in which many lawmakers and political leaders themselves have family members involved in politics.
The veteran legislator challenged his colleagues to determine whether they could support legislation even if it affected their own families.
“It’s easy to become or play a reformist when the ones affected are your opponents. But the real test of delicadeza is this: When the Constitution tells you to reduce your own power, will you obey?”
Erice also cited his own family as an example, saying his two children had chosen not to pursue elective positions despite having opportunities to do so. He said his children had instead embraced the principle that being capable of obtaining something did not necessarily mean they should take it.
“The best inheritance I can give them is not a congressional seat, not political machinery, not a title,” Erice said. “What I can give them is a strong principle of service.”
He then called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. anew to use his political influence to push for the enactment of an anti-political dynasty law.
Marcos had publicly supported such legislation and should now translate that commitment into concrete action, Erice said.
House Bill 8389 or the proposed Anti-Political Dynasty Act covers spouses and relatives within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity in specified circumstances involving the simultaneous or successive holding of elective office.
