Baronda, Garin back anti-dynasty bill

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

Reps. Julienne Baronda of Iloilo City’s lone district and Janette Loreto-Garin of Iloilo’s 1st District on Friday, Dec. 12, expressed support for the passage of an anti-political dynasty measure, after it was identified as a priority of the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Baronda, a deputy majority leader of the House of Representatives, told Daily Guardian on Air that she has no qualms about passing an anti-political dynasty law, noting that the framers of the 1987 Constitution may have already anticipated the problem.

She cited Section 26, Article II of the Constitution, which prohibits political dynasties “as may be defined by law.”

“From the initial mandate of the Constitution, the framers saw that [political] dynasties would cause problems for the people. For me, I won’t quarrel over passing an anti-political dynasty law,” Baronda said.

The lawmaker said she and her sister, Iloilo City Vice Mayor Lady Julie Grace Baronda, were not keen on clinging to power.

Baronda began her career as an elected official in the late 1990s as an ex officio councilor, serving as president of the city’s Sangguniang Kabataan Federation, before later winning a seat in her own right.

Between her loss in the 2010 vice mayoralty race and her return to electoral politics as the city’s lone district representative, she was mostly active behind the scenes as chief political officer to Sen. JV Ejercito.

The younger Baronda was elected to the city council in 2013 and completed her three terms in 2022, after which she served as executive assistant to then-Mayor Jerry Treñas until March 2024.

From 2022 to 2025, their family patriarch, Dr. Urminico Baronda Jr., sat on the city council, while matriarch Julie has been serving as barangay captain of Barangay Javellana in the Jaro district.

“[Lady Julie Grace] and I are not holding on like geckoes on a wall. I remember when she ran as a city councilor [in 2013], they thought she was a placeholder and that I would be coming back. They were surprised that I did not,” Baronda said.

She added that debates on the proposed law ultimately hinge on the motivations of aspiring and incumbent politicians, whether driven by self-interest or by a desire to continue a family member’s advocacy.

“I believe that we will come up with the best version [of the anti-political dynasty law] that is amenable to all. There are, at times, advantages and disadvantages,” she said.

“If the interest is for your personal […] gain, for handing down from the father to the child, or their wife, or sibling, and dynasties that seem like their place is their kingdom where they feel like they can do anything, that’s not good,” she added.

“But there are also honest public servants who wish to continue and improve their [family member’s] dream of progress for their town, city, or district. This is where we will see the extent,” Baronda said.

The Department of Economy, Planning, and Development said in a Dec. 12 post on its website that the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) approved the inclusion of the anti-dynasty bill in the Common Legislative Agenda of the executive and legislative branches during the 20th Congress.

Despite being listed as a priority measure by LEDAC, the bill has not been certified as urgent by the president.

Under Section 26(2), Article VI of the Constitution, the president may certify a bill as urgent to address a public calamity or emergency.

Once certified as urgent, Congress may dispense with the constitutional requirement that a bill be read on three separate days.

Bullets to swallow

Garin echoed a similar view, saying sacrifices may be required within her own family, which currently holds several elective posts in Iloilo’s 1st District.

Her husband, Oscar Garin Jr., is the mayor of Miagao, while their daughter, Rica Jane Garin, is serving her first term as a provincial board member.

In Guimbal, long considered the family’s political stronghold, Oscar Jr.’s sister, Jennifer Garin-Colada, is mayor, while another sister, Christine Garin, is vice mayor.

Another Garin sibling, Sharon Garin, serves in the Marcos Jr. administration as secretary of energy.

At a press conference in Santa Barbara on Friday, Rep. Garin expressed support for the version of the anti-dynasty bill authored by House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez’s allies, including Speaker Faustino Dy III of Isabela’s 6th District and Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander Marcos of Ilocos Norte’s 1st District, filed as House Bill No. 6771.

She said that as a deputy speaker, she had already been briefed on the measure and conveyed her intention to support it.

Garin acknowledged that the absence of an anti-dynasty law had been abused in some instances and said public sentiment toward political families had shifted over time.

“There are bullets that we have to swallow, because of the times and the call of the people asking us to listen to them. We have to listen to public clamor, because that is the power that put us in our positions,” Garin said.

She said House Bill No. 6771 may not be perfect, but described it as a workable version of an anti-political dynasty law.

“Others are expecting a total ban [on political dynasties], which is difficult. But then we go back to the real definition of dynasties, and if we insist on a definition that is not acceptable to many, then it will go nowhere,” she said.

Garin also addressed criticisms that the bill had not been certified as urgent, saying such claims were misleading since the measure was still at the first-reading stage.

“Usually, along the way, when the session ends or goes on a break, that’s when [the president] certifies the bill as urgent. There’s already a substitute bill that has been corrected [during committee hearings]. It’s a misleading comment, a diversion. It does not really make a difference at this point because you don’t have a substitute bill yet,” she said.

House Bill No. 6771 seeks to prohibit family members from simultaneously running for national positions or from succeeding one another in the same post.

Under the bill, however, family members may still seek other positions in different jurisdictions.

For example, members of the same family could separately run for district representative, governor, mayor, and councilor, or contest seats in different districts.

This mirrors the current situation in Isabela, where Speaker Dy’s son, Faustino Dy V, whom he succeeded as lone district representative this year, is now mayor of Echague.

The speaker also has relatives in the House representing other Isabela districts, including Faustino Michael Carlos Dy III of the 5th District and Ian Paul Dy of the 3rd District.

Majority Leader Marcos, commonly known as Sandro and the president’s son, also has relatives holding key posts in Ilocos Norte.

Cecilia Araneta-Marcos, wife of the president’s cousin Mariano Marcos II, is the incumbent Ilocos Norte governor, while Sen. Imee Marcos’s son, Matthew Marcos Manotoc, serves as vice governor, and another cousin, Angelo Marcos Barba, represents the province’s 2nd District alongside Marcos.

‘Most feasible’

Political analyst and lawyer Michael Henry Yusingco told Daily Guardian in a phone interview that House Bill No. 6771 presents a “realistic” framework with a chance of passage.

“This is the least evil. But obviously, this is not the best framework because it still allows for dynasties. It only probably cured the obese dynasties, but dynasties could still be fat,” Yusingco said.

He noted that because most members of Congress belong to political families, compromise is inevitable, particularly for advocates who have long pushed for an anti-dynasty law.

Still, he said the measure remains problematic because it allows power to remain concentrated within families in specific geographic areas.

“If we’re going to rely on Congress to pass the law, a compromise would need to be made. House Bill No. 6771 would be the bottommost that we could compromise on,” he said.

“Personally, I would rather have power concentrated in a family but dispersed geographically. For example, the father is a congressman in one district, and the child can be a member of Congress but in a different province,” he added.

Yusingco said a total ban on political dynasties would be “unrealistic and undemocratic,” arguing instead for what he called a “thin dynasty.”

A “thin dynasty” refers to a situation in which only one family member succeeds another in the same position, as opposed to “obese dynasties,” where multiple relatives hold office simultaneously.

“What we want to regulate is who can run in their family in a certain election. A total ban is unrealistic and arguably undemocratic,” he said.

“[A total ban] is unconstitutional and undemocratic because it’s clear in the Constitution that conditions that immediately disqualify a whole segment of society cannot be imposed,” he added.

‘Trapo’s ruse’

The Panay chapters of the National Union of People’s Lawyers and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan opposed House Bill No. 6771 in a joint statement issued Friday, calling it one of several reforms that appear to address corruption but are “merely intended to maintain the status quo.”

They also criticized the Marcos Jr. administration’s support for the bill, saying it was “performatively throwing its weight behind the anti-dynasty campaign.”

“The qualifications and caveats attached to the bills submitted by traditional politicians would neuter any anti-dynasty law. It would not put a dent in the armor of political dynasties, much less remove it altogether,” the groups said.

“These are not mere loopholes—they are provisions deliberately designed to undermine the very essence of the anti-dynasty mandate in the 1987 Constitution and to legitimize the practice of political clans scattering themselves across positions to entrench fiefdoms generation after generation,” they added.

The groups urged the public to scrutinize the pending anti-dynasty bills in Congress and to support what they described as a genuine reform.

“We call on the public to carefully study the bills currently pending in Congress and not to be swayed by propositions from powerful politicians who only hope to keep their positions for themselves and their families,” they said.

“By sustaining the protest movement, we have a real opportunity to change the political landscape. We should not surrender that hope by accepting anything less than what we deserve.”