Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon. File photo
MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon clarified Tuesday that he never mentioned the children of President Rodrigo Duterte amid discussions on dismantling oligarchy in the country.
“On the matter of oligarchy, I never, never mentioned the children of the President. When I mentioned oligarchy, I said, ‘Yes, I agree, oligarchy is bad for our economy, for our democracy,’” Drilon said in an interview with ABS-CBN News Channel’s Headstart.
In his State of the Nation Address on Monday, Duterte castigated Drilon for linking the issue of anti-dynasty system with oligarchy.
“In an interview, he arrogantly mentioned among others that oligarchs need not be rich. Then he linked the anti-dynasty system with oligarchy and the topic was my daughter and son,” Duterte said.
Drilon, however, defended that he was only calling for a review in the country’s systems, saying that “as long as our system is the same, you’ll have one oligarch after the other in the administrations that will come up.”
“Let us review our structure. For example, I said the political dynasties law should be enacted. This is what is required under our Constitution and I have never mentioned the children of the president,” Drilon said.
“Media asked me, ‘what about the children of the President?’ I said I am sure that the President can rise above all this and have the constitutional mandate followed,” the senator added.
According to Drilon, he has previously filed a bill prohibiting political dynasties in the country, which he said is one of his priority measures.
“[The bill] called for the passage of the anti-dynasty law because I believe that if we are going to dismantle the oligarchic system, we should also dismantle, to start with, political dynasty,” Drilon said.
Three of Duterte’s children are elected officials in the government.
Duterte’s eldest son Paolo, currently serves as representative of the 1st District of Davao City and is one of the deputy speakers in the House of Representatives.
Meanwhile, Sara Duterte-Carpio and Sebastian Duterte serve as Davao City’s mayor and vice mayor, respectively.
The 1987 Constitution very clearly states that the “State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”
However, no law has been passed defining political dynasties.