(UPDATES) THE Supreme Court said Thursday it will move to compel Congress to pass a law defining political dynasties, which are prohibited by the Constitution.
The Court said what constitutes a political dynasty is a matter for Congress to decide, but said its inability to pass an enabling law to implement the ban was a grave abuse of discretion.
In the strongest public statement on the issue yet, the Court said: “[The] long delay and abject failure of Congress to pass a law defining political dynasties for more than 30 years constitutes grave abuse of discretion, is unconstitutional and represents a continuing violation of the Constitution.”
The Court said it has issued a writ of certiorari for Congress to comply with its constitutional mandate to pass a law defining political dynasties.
In the past, the Court has dismissed petitions asking it to compel Congress to pass laws on political dynasties on the grounds that it could not “compel the performance of duties purely legislative in character.”
The Court also said petitions submitted by various groups presented a “political question” which is “clearly beyond the ambit of judicial review.”
“Courts have no judicial control over such matters, not merely because they involve political questions, but because they are matters which the people have by the Constitution delegated to the legislature,” the Supreme Court added. “Hence, the same is not a ministerial duty which can be compelled by mandamus.”
Nevertheless, after due deliberation, the Court said the time had come to end the “continuing violation of the Constitution.”
In its statement, the Court cited several petitions and other pleadings that had been dismissed in the past.
One of the petitions was filed by the Kapatiran Party Alliance for the Common Good in September 2023 that asked the Court to issue a writ of mandamus and to order the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass a law that will define and prohibit political dynasties.
The petition cited Article II Section 26 of the 1987 Constitution that prohibits political dynasties “as defined by law.”
The provision states that “the State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law.”
The Court has previously scrutinized the provision to resolve similar petitions that were filed in the past.
This includes the petition for mandamus filed in 2012 that asked the Supreme Court to compel the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to enforce this particular constitutional provision.
That petition, however, was dismissed as the Court held that the provision “is not a self-executing provision requiring as it does the legislative act of Congress to define what political dynasties are and to prescribe the scope and limits of such prohibition.”
“Without an enabling law, the Comelec cannot enforce the prohibition against political dynasties,” the Court said.
A petition for mandamus was also subsequently filed before the Court by former senator Teofisto Guingona, also to compel Congress to enact an anti-dynasty law.
This petition was also dismissed on the ground that “mandamus will not lie against the legislative body to compel the performance of duties purely legislative in character.”
The petition filed by Kapatiran last September 2023 which named the Senate and Congress as respondents raised an identical issue already decided by the Supreme Court, and thus was eventually dismissed.
In its comment, the Supreme Court noted that the authority to define what constitutes political dynasties “rests within the sound discretion of the respondents.”
“Moreover, the question of which laws to enact is a purely legislative function vested by the Constitution in the Congress alone,” it said.
“Courts have no judicial control over such matters, not merely because they involve political questions, but because they are matters which the people have by the Constitution delegated to the legislature,” the Supreme Court added. “Hence, the same is not a ministerial duty which can be compelled by mandamus.”
Recently, another petition for mandamus was filed by former Philippine Bar Association president Rico Domingo, along with lawyers Caesar Oracion, Jorge Cabildo, and Wilfredo Trinidad.
They also asked the Court to order the Senate and the House of Representatives to pass a law that will define and prohibit political dynasties.
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