Political dynasty has been a long stunning issue in the Philippines.

As stated by our first speaker, Sec 26 Art 2

of the Constitution is not an enforceable right but merely a state policy. It is impracticable to pass a law
defining political dynasty and prohibit the same. It will be unconstitutional in the sense that it
will trample the right of the people under Article 5 of the Constitution on the right to vote and
be voted upon. It will unduly limit the constitutionally protected rights of Filipino citizens.
Which is higher, the right to suffrage or the enforcement of a law which is merely discretionary
to suffrage and not executory?

What we have to see is that the reason why political dynasties need not be defined nor
prohibited is because there is nothing inherently wrong with them and creating such law
would just be more cumbersome. The constitution has already set forth certain qualifications
and disqualifications for people who aspire to join government or be elected into public office to
serve the Filipino people. Such qualifications are already enshrined in Section 2 of Article 7,
Sections 3 and 6 of Article 6, and Section 3 of Article 10 of our Constitution. Aside from these,
we already have set statute of rules such as the Omnibus Election Code, the
Comelec resolutions, and the Local Government Code, among others. Further, the Constitution itself
clearly tells us that the power to elect these people is in our hands as written in Section 1 of
Article 2 of the Constitution, “Sovereignty resides in the people and all government authority
emanates from them.” And truly, these so-called “political dynasties” will not be there if the
people had not elected them in the first place.

Look, the reality of it is that creating such a law will not stop the propagation of political
dynasties in the country. It will just be a catalyst to spur the creative minds of these power
hungry politicians and even if they cannot run and hold office, these politicians will just use
their power of influence and control over these “non-traditional” politicians. We should
instead focus on abolishing the illegal act altogether. The illegal act here is the abuse of the
electoral process. And yes, the method of execution is the political dynasty. But let me remind
you that not all political dynasties are bad. There are leaders who proved that political dynasty
can be beneficial to society so long as they do not abuse their power and used it to achieve
societal order and development. One example of a prosperous region, which has been ruled
under a political dynasty for over a century, is La Union. The family of Ortegas has occupied
elective and appointed position in the province since the 20th Century. The prosperity of the
region speaks clearly, of how well the dynasty has managed and classifying La Union as a first
class province. Further, As Mr. William Esposo stated in his column in the Philippine
Star,“Political dynasties do not equate to a legal problem. In principle, there is nothing wrong
with political dynasties… So long as the Filipinos can vote freely, nobody can question the emergence
of political dynasties. That is a reality.”

Lastly, even if the law is passed, it would not really make any difference. The only way to
change the sad reality is not by creating a new law that will actually be cumbersome in its
execution but in having an intelligent electorate and electoral process that is not abused.
 You have mentioned that provinces that have political dynasties are poor, right?
 Since you’ve said that, let’s go somewhere close to our hearts, our own province of
Cavite. We have Tolentinos in Tagaytay, Barzagas in Dasmarinas and Remullas governing
our own province of Cavite, are you saying that these cities and our own province of
Cavite are actually poor? Are you saying that we are poor?
 Isn’t it that according to Philippine Statistics Authority, the Cavite Province is actually
high in HDI and notably increasing every year since 2006?
 Are you against Political Dynasties? (for the purpose of this debate, obviously you are)
 Do you believe that PD is inherently evil?
 Is theft inherently evil?
 Is murder inherently evil?
 Is rape inherently evil?
 Would you agree with me that the basis of inherently evil is the very nature of the act?
 So being in a political family, is it wrong? Wanting to be a politician, is it wrong?
 For example, I who is a daughter of my politician father, does it make me necessarily
bad?
 Do you believe that really creating a law to pan a person from doing so is necessary?
 Isn’t it a sweeping generalization that to say that all political dynasties are bad?