The Commission on Elections will have a hard time implementing a ban against political dynasties if the enabling law is ambiguous and full of loopholes, according to lawyer Renato Magbutay, the poll body’s regional director for Northern Mindanao and Soccksargen, during a Senate hearing.
“It is very hard for the Comelec to implement a law if the one passed is ambivalent, contains ambiguities, and is prone to loopholes. That is what makes it difficult,” Magbutay told the Senate committee on electoral reform which is holding public consultations on what would constitute its ideal anti-dyasty law.
“But if the law is ironclad, as Sen. Kiko [Pangilinan] said, ironclad and foolproof, then it will be easy for the Comelec to implement. That is the Comelec’s assurance,” he added.
Under Article II, Section 26 of the 1987 Constitution, the State is mandated to “guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”
However, that ban has remained largely unimplemented over the last 39 years because Congress has not passed any law that defines political dynasties. Lawmakers have tried to propose anti-political dynasty legislation in both the House and the Senate, but met little success. The latest is House Bill No. 6771, proposed by Speaker Faustino Dy III and Ilocos Rep. Alexander Marcos, who both come from political dynasties themselves.
Sen. Pangilinan, for his part, agreed on the need for stronger provisions in such a law, but also emphasized that it was just as important for Comelec to have political will when it comes to implementation. He cited vote buying, which is also clearly defined and illegal, but still widely practiced in the country by politicians and their dynasties.
If there is anything positive about this latest and long overdue effort to craft a law against political dynasties, it would be our legislators and implementers having the hindsight from the decades of experience with how the weaknesses and loopholes of the system has been misused and abused by the ones who were supposed to protect it, and are now tasked with coming up with a law to end their political dynasties.
Will they be able to come up with something that is ironclad and foolproof? Or will it be a token anti-dynasty law that is weak and riddled with loopholes?*
