Joker: Anti-dynasty bill will only gather dust

In all likelihood, senators and congressmen will not support any move that would prohibit their family members from taking over their posts, re-electionist Sen. Joker Arroyo said yesterday.

"No law has been passed because I don’t think any congressman or senator would endorse that (anti-dynasty bill)," Arroyo said.

He added that he was open to the idea of political dynasties because there are political dynasties worldwide.

Arroyo, a former Makati congressman, explained further that political families "invest their time in handling" the local affairs of their home province, which is aimed at "protecting" the area.

"I’m not particular about this dynasty thing, although I don’t have any relatives (in public office)," the Team Unity senatorial candidate said. "Because, if you were to look at it also this way, you know, families take care of a certain area."

He also compared political dynasties to pork barrels, which is also practiced all over the world. "It’s abused all over the world. Political dynasty is just like the pork barrel."

Arroyo’s fellow Team Unity candidate, former senator Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, expressed apprehensions on the Anti-Dynasty Bill, which is gathering dust in Congress. He said though that any move to revive it will definitely not come from him.

Sotto, a former noontime TV show host, was particularly concerned about prohibiting immediate members of a politician’s family from seeking public office, but allowing mistresses, or relatives of mistresses, to join politics because they are not considered relatives.

"At first, I don’t know where I should stand on that issue because I had a problem with that. As the late Sen. Raul Roco pointed out to me, the original political dynasties in Philippine politics were the Rocos and the Sottos," he said.

Sotto, a former Quezon City vice mayor, revealed that two of his grandfathers, Vicente Sotto and Felimon Sotto, were veteran senators during their time, and have in fact been dubbed as "press freedom law champion" and "women’s rights advocate" respectively.

The same is true with Roco, whose father and grandfather were also senators, who both served in one Congress. "Now the problem is, it’s (political dynasty) very difficult to define," Sotto said.