Senator Risa Hontiveros has filed a bill seeking to prohibit political dynasties, stressing the need to guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service.

Once enacted, the Senate Bill 1548 shall be known as the "Kontra Dinastiya Act."

Under the bill, no person related within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity to an incumbent national elective official shall be allowed to hold or run for a national post.

It added that no person related within the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity to an incumbent local elective official shall be allowed to hold or run for elective office within the same legislative district, province, or city.

The same also goes for the party-list system.

Any violation of the measure, including misrepresentation or non-disclosure of material facts as required by Section 5 and the duty to deny due course to certificates of candidacy (COC) as required under Section 6, shall be punished as an election offense, in accordance with the provisions of the Omnibus Election Code (OEC).

In the bill's explanatory note, Hontiveros cited Article II, Section 26 of the 1987 Constitution, which declares that "[t]he State shall guarantee equal access to opportunities for public service, and prohibit political dynasties as may be defined by law."

"Nearly four decades have passed since the ratification of our fundamental law--and Congress has yet to heed this mandate. The absence of an enabling law has enabled the continued dominance of political dynasties across the country-an outcome foreseen and explicitly warned against by the framers of the Constitution," she said.

She also cited a report by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) also revealed the alarming concentration of power among a few families in the House of Representatives, with over 80 percent of the 253 district representative seats held by members of political dynasties.

"Political dynasties weaken democratic institutions and produce poorer governance outcomes, particularly when 'fat dynasties' allow multiple family members to simultaneously hold elective offices within the same jurisdiction," she said.

"The passage of an Anti-Political Dynasty Law is necessary to restore fairness in our electoral system, strengthen public institutions, and ensure that leadership in government is determined not by birth or inherited political machinery, but by merit, integrity, and a genuine and meaningful mandate from the people," she added.