Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said that if President Rodrigo Duterte wants to stop oligarchy in the Philippines, the government should ban political dynasties first.
According to the senator, the lack of anti-dynasty provision in the country makes an oligarchy “easy to achieve.”
He added that he is “willing to sit down with the Duterte administration” to find out which laws should be amended to dismantle oligarchy—including the lack of anti-dynasty law.
“They have made our national and local offices extensions of their household. They wield power for their own benefit. It has gone so bad that these dynasties now hold simultaneous national and local positions,” he said.
READ ALSO: Duterte says he ‘dismantled’ oligarchy without martial law
The President earlier said in a speech that he was happy to have dismantled an oligarchy without declaring martial law. In the unedited version of his speech, it was revealed that he was referring to the Lopez family that owns ABS-CBN, whose franchise application was recently denied at the House of Representatives, and the Ayala conglomerate.
Drilon, however, said that a person is also an oligarch if he/she promotes his own interests through systems like political dynasties.
He added that the popularity rating of Duterte can help push his anti-dynasty bill in Congress, which failed to take off since many lawmakers are part of political dynasties.
In Davao City, Duterte’s eldest son Paolo is the representative of the city’s first district, while Sara Duterte-Carpio serves as the Mayor. In addition, his youngest son Sebastian is the city’s Vice Mayor.
“When you want to remove oligarchy as a power structure, then you should rise above all of these. Let’s make sure that oligarchs are not substituted by cronies or another oligarch,” said Drilon.
SEE ALSO: President Duterte referring to other tycoons in Sulu speech on ‘dismantling’ oligarchy
