MANILA — House leaders described House Bill No. 6771, filed by Speaker Faustino Dy III and Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos, as the most workable anti-political dynasty proposal under consolidation, citing its balance between constitutional reform and political realities.

Cagayan de Oro City 1st District Rep. Lordan Suan, chair of the House Committee on Public Information and one of the 24 measure authors, said the bill offers a practical path forward.

“I think we do not have to amplify the extremes. We need to find a workable common ground and I think this bill is the most workable of them all,” Suan said, emphasizing the importance of passing legislation that can actually become law.

He added that dispersing political influence geographically would help mitigate the issues associated with dynasties.

“If the concentration of power is dispersed among a more expansive geographical area, I think the problems that we are trying to avoid with political dynasties might be mitigated,” Suan said.

Scope and provisions

The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reform, chaired by Zia Alonto Adiong, earlier confirmed that HB 6771 is serving as the working draft to consolidate 24 anti-dynasty proposals. The committee is leaning toward a prohibition covering relatives up to the second degree of civil relationship.

The bill, now co-authored by 144 House members, defines a political dynasty as the concentration or dominance of elective political power by persons related to one another. It applies to all elective posts from President and Vice President down to senators, members of the House of Representatives, governors, mayors, and barangay officials.

Under the proposal, spouses and covered relatives are barred from holding elective positions simultaneously within the same political jurisdiction, preventing the consolidation of power at the national, provincial, city, municipal, legislative district, or barangay level.

Balancing reform with practicality

Adiong clarified that the measure does not seek to ban all relatives from holding office nationwide, but to curb excessive concentration of power in a single locality.

“No, it’s not really about that, it’s actually balancing it out,” he said.

He explained that while relatives can still serve in different localities, the bill focuses on preventing power consolidation within one jurisdiction, the essence of political dynasties.

“One candidate for each family, it’s too extreme for me,” Adiong added, stressing that the core issue is power concentration rather than family relations in general.