Noy urged to certify dynasty bill as urgent

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino was urged yesterday to certify as urgent a bill that seeks to ban political dynasties.

Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice made the call in a letter to Aquino. Erice is a member of the ruling Liberal Party, of which Aquino is titular head.

Bill 3587, entitled “An Act prohibiting the establishment of political dynasties,” is pending in the House of Representatives.

It proposes to prohibit relatives up to the second degree of consanguinity or affinity to hold or run for both national and local election positions in successive, simultaneous or overlapping terms, Erice said.

“It is the constitutional duty of Congress to enact a law defining and prohibiting the establishment of political dynasties in accordance with the intent of Section 26, Article 2 of the 1987 Constitution,” he said in his letter to Aquino.

“While several bills of similar significance had been filed in the past, these were never acted upon during the previous Congress through the manipulation of unscrupulous politicians,” he said.

The lawmaker informed the President that the House committee on suffrage and electoral reform endorsed Bill 3587 for plenary deliberation last Dec. 16.

It is included in the agenda of the House for the rest of the first session of Congress, which ends in June, he added.

“We are respectfully requesting for your support on the enactment of the said proposal by issuing a certification declaring the same to be a priority bill,” he wrote Aquino.