• THERESA MAE DULMAN
Science advocates in Negros Island said they are not optimistic regarding the passage of the proposed Anti-Political Dynasty Bill, calling the country’s current governance a ‘rotten system’ designed to protect elite interests.
The statement, issued Advocates of Science and Technology for the People — Negros Island Region (AGHAM-NIR) coordinator Dan Alcoriza, comes in the wake of a Senate public consultation led by Senator Risa Hontiveros in Bacolod City last February 13.
While Hontiveros expressed optimism that the measure could pass by March, Alcoriza argued that legislative motions are unlikely to yield genuine reform.
“They [political dynasties] are the cause of continuing poverty, destructive development, lack of industrialization, and human rights violations,” he said.
The group highlighted that the grip of political clans is a colonial legacy, tracing their roots back to the Spanish era and the ‘puppet republics’ of the American occupation.
According to AGHAM NIR, these structures were built to favor the landed gentry and big business class.
The group cited statistics showing that family-based power structures dominate the government as of 2025, comprising 99 percent of the Senate, 80 percent of provincial governors, 67 percent of House Representatives, and 63 percent of mayors.
AGHAM NIR urged the science and technology community to look beyond ‘deceptive’ reform bills and instead demand transparency and accountability.
The group also challenged local officials to address fundamental issues such as flood control project scandals and the demands of marginalized sectors, including farmers and industrial workers.
“Only in effecting substantive political and economic reforms in the rotten system can we put an end to political dynasties,” the organization concluded.*
