NAAWAN, Misamis Oriental (MindaNews / 13 December) – In one bold stroke, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. transcended the political divides and upended the country’s political landscape by directing Congress to prioritize four landmark bills: the Anti-dynasty bill, the Independent People’s Commission Act, the Partylist System Reform Act, and the Citizens Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability or CADENA bill for public spending transparency.
Indeed, if Congress passes these four priority bills in one sweep, the Philippines would experience the most dramatic political reset since 1986. Gradual or piecemeal change had led us nowhere. What we need is a sweeping change, a clean break from the old political order. And this proposed legislation, pushed primarily by Senators Kiko Pangilinan, Bam Aquino, and Risa Hontiveros, Akbayan Partylist, and several reform partylists and lawmakers, may yet dismantle the foundations that have allowed dynasties, corruption, and fake representation to thrive. Overnight, the rules that have governed power for decades would no longer apply.
The long-awaited, constitutionally mandated Anti-Dynasty law, if finally passed by Congress, will radically transform the country’s power structure. Power concentrated in a few will be decongested. There will be more meritorious participants in the political process. If the partylist system is reformed, and nominees will truly come from the group they purportedly represent, power will be democratized, and a representative democracy will finally thrive in the land. Corrupt dynasties and fake partylist representation will come to an end.
The people, regardless of political persuasions, ought to unite behind the landmark measures to arrive in the Promised Land.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)