Pimentel: Antidynasty bill must bring about change

There’s no use passing an anti-dynasty bill if the measure would have no teeth and would not bring about change in the political system, according to Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III.

Pimentel, chair of the Senate committee on electoral reforms, agreed with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte on the need to ensure the anti-dynasty measure coming out of Congress would be a meaningful one, and not one that was passed just to make it appear a constitutional requirement had been fulfilled.

“Let’s not pass it if the version we approve would not introduce any new rules that will change the political landscape,” Pimentel said in a phone interview yesterday.

Belmonte had said that the anti-dynasty bill, currently being tackled in plenary, was having a rough time in the House.

In the Senate, Pimentel is still drafting his version of the bill, which must be approved by majority of his committee members before it could be sent to the plenary for deliberations. It is not one of the priority bills of the Senate.

Pimentel said he was still in the process of refining his bill, nearly a month after President Aquino had made a pitch for the measure in his final State of the Nation Address.

The senator said he wanted to make sure all dynastic definitions were covered by his measure. He said it had been taking some time because there were many combinations and permutations of dynasties in the country.

“I want to file a good model law,” he said.

Asked if he thought there would be time to tackle the bill in the Senate, Pimentel said he continued to hope so. The Senate has until February to discuss it, he noted.

“Never say die,” he added.

However, if not approved before the campaign period begins, the anti-dynasty bill could be refiled in the next Congress, Pimentel said.

Earlier, he said he wanted a stricter version of the anti-dynasty bill that would allow only one member of a family to hold elective office if a national post was involved.