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Constitutional Comedy Hour: Dynasties Dancing Around Article II for 38 Years of Uninterrupted Shenanigans

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Louis ‘Barok’ Biraogo

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Constitutional Comedy Hour: Dynasties Dancing Around Article II for 38 Years of Uninterrupted Shenanigans
Family Feudalism Follies: 38 Years of Dodging the Dynasty Ban with Dazzling Deception

Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo — November 25, 2025

I. Another Senate Bill, Another Funeral March: Risa’s SB 1548 Joins the Corpse Parade

Thirty-eight years.
That is how long Article II, Section 26 of the 1987 Philippine Constitution has carried a gorgeous, perfectly worded, and utterly useless promise: “The State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”

It’s like engraving “Thou shalt not steal” on a tablet and then handing the chisel to the thieves with the instruction: “Define ‘steal’ whenever you feel like it.”

Cue the latest episode of legislative performance art: Senator Risa Hontiveros just filed Senate Bill No. 1548 – the “Kontra Dinastiya Act.” Fourth-degree consanguinity or affinity. No simultaneous runs. No immediate succession. COMELEC (Commission on Elections) motu proprio disqualification powers. Sounds fierce.

Reality check: it’s headed straight to the same committee graveyard that swallowed every single one of its twenty-plus predecessors. Because nothing terrifies a dynast more than the prospect of his own children having to get real jobs.

Rated SPG: Strong Political Greed—parental guidance still useless after 38 seasons.

II. Fourth-Degree Consanguinity? That’s Not a Law, That’s a Family-Reunion Guest-List Loophole

A fourth-degree rule helpfully bans first cousins… while conveniently leaving fifth cousins, in-laws twice removed, kumares, golf buddies, and the family driver’s godchild perfectly legal. Give the political clans one election cycle and they’ll turn “thin dynasties” into a growth industry. Congratulations, Congress – you’ve outlawed the obvious while franchising the workaround.

III. The Supreme Court’s Favorite Hiding Place: “Separation of Powers” (Now Available in Extra-Cowardly)

This writer (yes, yours truly, Louis “Barok” C. Biraogo) once dragged the issue to the Supreme Court, begging the Honorable Justices to notice that thirty-eight years of congressional sabotage might—just might—constitute grave abuse of discretion.

The Court’s response? A masterclass in judicial hand-washing. “Non-self-executing.” “Political question.” “Separation of powers.” Translation: “We activate only when the respondent is poor, brown, or politically expendable.”

Thirty-eight years of deliberate inaction is no longer a political question; it is constitutional treason wearing a barong. And the Court, by its pious refusal to intervene, has become the accomplice that holds the getaway car.

IV. The Greatest Hits of Dynastic Mental Gymnastics – Debunked in Real Time

Let’s parade through the greatest hits of the pro-dynasty apologists, shall we?

  1. “It violates voter choice!”
    Naks, the sacred sovereign choice between Candidate A (the governor’s son), Candidate B (the governor’s wife), Candidate C (the governor’s brother), and Candidate D (the governor’s mistress). Truly, the marketplace of ideas is thriving.
  2. “But some dynasties are benevolent!”
    Oyy, the “my slave-owner is a nice guy” argument. Systemic cancer does not come with exceptions for “competent” tumors.
  3. “It’s too hard to define!”
    We have managed to define murder, rape, plunder, tax evasion, and even the difference between a goat and a sheep for carnapping purposes. I’m pretty sure the collective IQ of Congress can handle “cousin.”

V. The Evidence Even a Dynast Can’t Bribe Away

The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) has published study after study showing the fattest dynasties preside over the poorest provinces. More relatives in power = higher poverty, weaker accountability, faster vanishing infrastructure budgets. But sure, tell the starving province that Cousin #47 running for congressman is “continuity of good governance.”

VI. Three Paths Forward (All of Them Require Spinal Columns Currently on Back-Order)

So where do we flee from this circus?

Option 1: Legislation. Ideal on paper. Dead on arrival in reality. Senate Bill No. 1548 will join the graveyard of noble intentions unless the public hauls these clowns kicking and screaming to the plenary. Good luck with that.

Option 2: Judicial Backbone Transplant. Stop begging the Supreme Court to write the law. File a new, smarter petition—not against Congress (they’ll just hide behind separation of powers again), but against COMELEC.
Mandamus to compel the Commission to treat blatant dynastic candidacies as nuisance candidates or as violations of the constitutional principle of equal access—using its existing plenary powers under the Omnibus Election Code (Batas Pambansa Blg. 881) and its rule-making authority.
Make them disqualify on a case-by-case basis until the sheer administrative chaos forces Congress to act or the Court to finally grow a spine.

Option 3: Constitutional Amendment to Make the Provision Self-Executing. Delicious irony: we have to amend the Constitution to make the Constitution work. That’s how broken the system is.

VII. Rebellion Roadmap: Armchair Warriors, Rise and Rumble!

Final verdict from the trenches:

  • To the public: Stop awaiting saviors. Name them. Shame them. File a thousand COMELEC complaints. Turn every certificate of candidacy into a potential disqualification war. Make dynastic succession administratively radioactive.
  • To the Supreme Court: Revisit Biraogo. Find a justiciable hook. Stop hiding behind “political question” when the political branches are openly defecating on the Constitution.
  • To Congress: Pass the damned law. Or have the elementary decency to repeal Article II, Section 26 outright and admit to the entire nation that you are not representatives of the people—you are employees of your own families.

Because this is no longer a legal puzzle.
This is a war.

And right now the Constitution is an unarmed civilian surrounded by wolves in barong tagalog while Congress and the Court politely look the other way and call it “democracy.”

Enough.

Key Citations

Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo

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