Implementing an Anti-Political Dynasty Law for the upcoming 2028 national and local elections will be a tall order.

This was among the takeaways from Comission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Erwin Garcia's remarks before House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms, which on Tuesday, Jan. 27, began deliberations on nearly two dozen anti-political dynasty bills.

Apparently, the problem lies with the timing, since the May 2028 political race--which, among others, will determine President Marcos' successor--is just a few laps away.

"We have to understand that ngayon po ay almost one year and six months na lang, filing na ng candidacy for the 2028 important elections. So practically po ganyan na lang po ka-iksi ‘yong pinag-uusapan natin na period para po maipasa natin itong Anti-Political Dynasty [Law] because this will have to be implemented and enforced by Comelec in 2028," Garcia, one of the invited resource persons, said.

(We have to understand that in just about one year and six months, the filing of candidacies for the important 2028 elections will begin. So practically, that is the short period we are talking about to pass this Anti-Political Dynasty Law, because it will have to be implemented and enforced by Comelec in 2028.)

The prospective law is expected to provide parameters for the disqualification and/or cancellation of election bets candidacies, at least based on the remedies suggested by the 21 bills referred to the panel.

Garcia said Comelec--which has a ministerial function--cannot cancel or disqualify candidates outright, even if he or she was clearly not qualified based on public knowledge. The poll body must accept all certificates of candidacy (COC), he said.

"Ang problem po natin ‘pag ganitong klase ng ground for disqualification or cancelation (The problem of dealing with this kind of ground for disqualification or cancelation), you need a full-blown hearing, you need to prove that this person is really related to the candidate, whether to the incumbent or parehas silang related (if they're both related)," he said.

This means all cases pertaining to the screening of the poll bets alone would have to go through adjudication.

"(In) Comelec we receive thousands of cases," Garcia said.

"Try to imagine your honors, if the filing of [certificates of] candidacy is by October of 2027, the printing of the ballots is by December last week or first week of January, ‘yon lang po ‘yong period na ginagagalawan ni Comelec to resolve all of these cases, iba pa po ‘yong cases ng citizenship, disqualification, and such other grounds," he told the congressmen in the hearing.

(That is the only period within which Comelec must operate to resolve all of these cases—on top of other cases such as citizenship, disqualification, and other grounds.)

"Meaning to say, if we will be receiving thousands of cases, with all honesty we will not be able to resolve cases, makakatakbo’t makakatakbo po ang dynast, o makakatakbo ‘yong may violation no’ng anti-political dynasty," he conceded.

(Those belonging to political dynasties or those committing violations against the anti-political dynasty law would still be able to run.)

Garcia said a possible recourse would be to move the COC to an earlier date, like July 2027. But that would seemingly give the legislators even less time to polish the already contentious measure.

The 1987 Constitution explicitly mentions a prohibition on political dynasties, but Congress has yet to pass an enabling law for this in the nearly 40 years that followed.

The suffrage panel chaired by Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong has scheduled the next hearing on the matter on Feb. 10.