A new Senate bill seeking to prohibit political dynasties in both national and local positions has been filed, targeting a long-standing gap in the law that has allowed powerful clans to dominate Philippine politics.
Senate Deputy Majority Leader Risa Hontiveros filed Senate Bill No. 1548, or the Kontra Dinastiya Act, which aims to ban the spouses and relatives — up to the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity — of national officials from running in national elections, and of local officials from running in local elections within the same district, province, or city.
Relatives within the fourth degree include great great-grandparents, great aunts and uncles, first cousins, and grand nephews and nieces.
The proposal also prohibits spouses or relatives of incumbents from immediately succeeding them in the same position, and further bars relatives up to the fourth degree of both national and local officials from running under the party-list system.
Hontiveros stressed that while the 1987 Philippine Constitution bans political dynasties, the absence of an enabling law has allowed political clans to flourish — with more than half of current government officials now coming from dynastic families.
“The passage of an Anti-Political Dynasty Law is necessary to restore fairness in our electoral system, strengthen public institutions, and ensure that leadership in government is determined not by birth or inherited political machinery, but by merit, integrity, and a genuine and meaningful mandate from the people,” according to the bill’s explanatory note.
The filing comes as the Senate itself currently hosts four sets of siblings:
• Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano
• JV Ejercito and Jinggoy Estrada (half-brothers)
• Raffy and Erwin Tulfo
• Mark and Camille Villar
Their parents — including former senators Manny and Cynthia Villar, former President Joseph Estrada, and former senator Rene Cayetano — also previously served in the Senate, highlighting the deep presence of political dynasties in the chamber.
Hontiveros’ bill seeks to finally operationalize the constitutional prohibition and shift political power away from entrenched families and back to merit-based leadership.