Comelec: SK bets related to incumbent pols can’t run

Those who intend to run as candidates in the coming Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) elections will have to declare under oath that they are not related—either by affinity or consanguinity—to any incumbent, elected national or local official.

According to Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair Andres Bautista, all SK candidates will have to make the declaration in their certificates of candidacy which are filed under oath.

Under Republic Act

No. 10742 or the SK Reform Act of 2015, candidates should not be related within the second degree of consanguinity or affinity to any incumbent, elected national official or to any incumbent regional, provincial, city, municipal or barangay official in the locality where they are running.

The Constitution bars political dynasties but this has not been enforced because of a lack of an enabling law which has to be passed in Congress, many of whose members belong to political dynasties themselves.

The antidynasty provision in the SK Reform Act of 2015 has been lauded by the poll body.