‘Anti-dynasty bill will never pass’
Cebu’s political leaders mixed on President’s call on Congress to pass anti-dynasty bill
Suspended Dumanjug Mayor Nelson Garcia said he believes the anti-dynasty bill being lobbied by President Benigno Aquino III won’t be approved.
In yesterday’s 888 News Forum, Garcia said the bill’s definition of a dynasty is wrong.
“When you said ‘dynasty,’ it means that it is being handed down from one generation to another generation, just like kings and queens,” he told reporters.
The mayor’s father Pablo Garcia, is a former Cebu governor and a veteran congressman while his sister Gwendolyn Garcia is also the former Cebu governor and the incumbent representative of Cebu’s 3rd district.
His brother Pablo John , a former congressman, lost the gubernatiorial race in 2013 against incumbent Gov. Hilario Davide III.
Guarantee
“It will never pass because the bill is unconstitutional because it violates the equal protection clause. It will deprive people the right to choose who they want to vote,” Garcia said.
He said having a political family is no guarantee of election victory as shown in Siquijor province where the Fua clan lost in the 2013 elections
Some of Cebu’s political leaders gave mixed reactions to the President’s call to Congress for the passage of the Anti-Dynasty Bill.
Former Cebu governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña said he is not opposed to the bill mentioned by President Aquino during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last Monday.
“I won’t oppose it as long as it won’t violate the constitution,” Osmeña said in Cebuano.
Definition
He said it’s important that a person’s right to run in an election will not be violated.
The 76-year-old Osmeña plans to run anew for governor in next year’s election.
His brother, former senator John Henry “Sonny” Osmeña is the mayor of Toledo City, Cebu.
Rep. Joseph Felix “Ace” Durano of Cebu’s 5th district said he supports the law’s aim but a definition has to be clear.
“I support the objective of the law which is to prohibit and prevent the undue monopoly of political power by any ‘political dynasty,” Durano said in a text message.
No precedent
Durano, whose Bakud party sealed an alliance with the administration Liberal Party in the 2013 election, said the debate actually focuses on the definition of the political dynasty.
“There is no precedent in any republican democracy of such limitation on the universal right of suffrage. When is a family considered a political dynasty? When there are two members of such family holding public office? Or there has to be more than just two holding public office for a family to be considered a political dynasty? To what degree of consanguinity or affinity should the family relations be for the family members to be considered part of the same political dynasty? There is no consensus at this time,” the congressman said.
Durano’s father, Ramon “Nito” Durano III is the mayor of Danao City. Ace’s brother, former congressman Ramon “Red” Durano VI, is now the vice mayor.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza, who attended the President’s SONA, said she will abide by the law if it is passed.
“Wala ra na sa akoa (It’s not a big deal for me). If ever it will become a law, we will just abide with it,” the mayor said.
First term
Radaza, on her second term as mayor of Lapu-Lapu City, succeeded her husband Arturo Radaza, who ran for Lapu-Lapu City’s congressional seat in 2010. He was succeeded by their daughter Aileen in 2013.
Paz Radaza’s brother, Augusto Corro is serving his first term as mayor in Daanbantayan in the northern tip of Cebu.
Mayor Garcia also said he wasn’t satisfied with the President’s final address.
“He forgot to mention the Mamasapano issues and the rehabilitation of Yolanda-affected areas like in Tacloban. He also kept blaming former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo,” Garcia said.
Art Barrit, spokesman of the Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress in the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), also said during yesterday’s forum that President Aquino didn’t address the rising practice of contractualization of workers.
He said contractualization doesn’t assure workers of security of tenure and fringe benefits under the law. /With Palompon Institute of Technology Intern Mariel Grabilloa
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