MANILA, Philippines?Ang Kapatiran Party (AKP) standard-bearer John Carlos ?JC? de los Reyes Monday pledged to break up political dynasties if he became president.

?For 23 years, the provision (against political dynasties) has been violated. I will communicate this to the whole bureaucracy and to the people so that finally we?ll have the implementing rules to give life to this provision,? he said at a presidential forum sponsored by the Inquirer.

De los Reyes also focused on the need to decentralize government so that development could finally trickle to the provinces, particularly in Mindanao.

He said Mindanao should not be looked upon anymore as a food basket, the home of the indigenous Moro people or a source of pearls and lobsters.

?The people of Mindanao are our fellow Filipinos,? he said. ?The problem of Mindanao is leadership. The challenge is to locate leaders and to determine what they stand for and what they represent. The problem there is the padrino system,? he said.

AKP?s backing of Church?s policies was highlighted by De los Reyes? repeated declaration that he opposed the reproductive health bill pending in Congress.

He called the bill ?dangerous? because it advocated ?modern planning? methods, some of which, he said, would lead to abortion.

?If there are choices that are dangerous, we should not support it. I?m all for maternal health and other positive aspects in the RH bill,? he said.

De los Reyes defended his sending his three children to public schools, when asked if in doing so he believed in the quality of education in the Philippines.

?If I want to be a leader, I have to be in solidarity with our people, that?s the reason why,? he said. ?My children hobnob with children of the working class, they get to hobnob with real people in the community. Anyway, I and my wife compensate their education by teaching them values.?