[Our banner story "SC wants Congress to pass dynasty law" dated July 12, 2024 misinterpreted the Court's posting of petitions that asked it to compel action on the passage of such a law, to mean it supported passage of an anti-dynasty law. We apologize for the misunderstanding. – The editor]
THE Supreme Court on Friday said it has yet to issue a decision directing Congress to pass an anti-political dynasty law, contrary to published reports.
"These cases (asking to compel Congress) are still pending before the Court," said Court spokesman Camille Ting.
"(T)he article published ... on this is erroneous. We are already writing to have it corrected. (There is) no such decision. What we uploaded were the petitions and other pleadings asking the SC to compel Congress to pass laws related to political dynasties. These cases are still pending before the Court," Ting stressed.
The court issued the clarification following a report on Thursday that "it will move to compel Congress to pass a law defining political dynasties ..."
A group of lawyers has earlier petitioned the Supreme Court to compel Congress to pass an anti-dynasty law.
The militant party-list group Bayan Muna has also reiterated its call for immediate passage.
According to a 2012 study published in the Philippine Political Science Journal, most government positions are held by politicians, who are members of political dynasties. From 1995 to 2007, an average of 31.3 percent of all congressmen and 23.1 percent of governors were replaced by relatives.
It was estimated that 40 percent of all provinces in the Philippines have a governor and congressman related in some way.
An analyst said political dynasties will continue to lord it over the political landscape in the Philippines since the chances are slim that the anti-dynasty bill will be passed during the term of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Dr. Froilan Calilung, who teaches political science at the University of Santo Tomas, said in a phone interview with The Manila Times the anti-political dynasty bill, which has been languishing in Congress for over three decades, is not a priority legislative measure of the Marcos administration.
"I don't see if it will pass right now.... This is a very contentious issue; it is divisive. Politically, this is divisive, and the President wouldn't want to actually create any form of division, especially right now that we will be heading into the elections," Calilung said.
"The President would want to consolidate all the resources, all the machinery, all the political support to solidify his political base, and having a legislation like this is entirely divisive, and it may run counter to the agenda of the President," he said.
Calilung said he believed that it is only the Supreme Court that can compel the legislature to act on the country's long-standing problem with political dynasties.
"So we can't get it from the executive because we know that in Philippine politics, in most cases, if it's not in the priority measures of our executive, it won't really prosper. Secondly, the majority of the members of Congress are an ally of the President, and in most cases, the President is also part of a political dynasty," Calilung said.
Because the Supreme Court "is less politicized, or let's say, insulated from political pressure because they are not elected," it is in the best position to exert political pressure on the Congress to legislate a law that will, you know, put an end to political dynasties once and for all," he said.
Calilung said it is "high time" to pass an anti-political dynasty law that has "explicit powers to really create a fair playing field for all the political actors."
Attempts to pass such a measure have failed because legislators "don't want to create a law that will decrease their hold on power," he said.
"If we really want to come up with a better level of governance, a high level of administrative efficiency, it is imperative to pass such a law," Calilung said