EDITORIAL - Curbing dynasties

He’s had bills pending for decades passed by Congress, so President Aquino is reportedly confident that he can get lawmakers to approve one of the priority measures he mentioned in his final State of the Nation Address: the Anti-Dynasty Law.

Among the biggest beneficiaries of the absence of the law are members of Congress, so the President’s push for the measure is being met with skepticism. Lawmakers have shown impressive resistance to any measure that will disrupt the way they do business, such as proposals to strengthen regulation of campaign finance. Posing the same level of threat to the political status quo is the passage of the enabling law that is needed to implement the spirit of the constitutional provision against political dynasties.

The administration that espouses the straight path or tuwid na daan, however, must at least try to shepherd the anti-dynasty proposal through a resistant Congress. Dynasty building has made a mockery of term limits set by the Constitution. Spouses, siblings and children simply take turns occupying the same position.

Those who have created dynasties argue that they cannot be sustained if voters are unhappy with their performance. But incumbent officials have a significant edge over challengers, and those belonging to a dynasty benefit from the so-called equity of the incumbent. For a number of clans, politics has become a family business from which their fortunes are built and nourished.

In recent years, dynasty building has reached atrociously shameless proportions, with family members wanting to occupy every possible elective position in their turf. There are close relatives in the 24-member Senate. When they run out of positions, they branch out to other voting areas or, if they have the clout, resort to gerrymandering to create more positions for relatives. This can undermine the system of checks and balances, such as when the mayor is a close relative of the vice mayor. The vice mayor presides over the city or municipal council, whose tasks include checking abuses of the mayor.

Such incestuous linkages must be discouraged. Spouses may want to fill each other’s shoes and many children want to follow in the footsteps of their parents. But it is possible to rationalize this desire and set limits in political succession by relatives. The greed for public office is unhealthy for a democracy and must be curbed.