By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — Vice Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson is not supporting the proposed bill banning political dynasties in the country, saying it all goes back to the “will of the people.”
“We should trust the Filipino people in making the judgment on who should serve their respective local government units,” he said.
Simply, Lacson finds no need for the measure. “The Filipino people can always change their leaders if they are not anymore happy with the ones currently serving them,” he said.
Members of political clans have been ruling Cebu and Zamboanga, but they were defeated during last year’s elections, he said.
He also refuted the notion that the Philippines does not progress because of political dynasties.
During the World Economic Forum recently hosted by the Philippines, the country was labeled as the “Next Economic Tiger” in Asia, he said.
That notion has been proven wrong by the government’s good and transparent leadership, he said, adding that studies showed that the country’s economy will continue to pick up.
But “a decade of continued (economic) growth is needed so it could be felt by the lower class,” he said. “That’s why the 2016 election is very important — to make sure that the next leadership will continue whatever growth we have experienced in the last four years.”
The Senate will do its best to pass the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill, which prohibits families from having many members in politics; it will try to get the pulse of the people, Senate President Franklin Drilon had said.
Drilon said the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation, headed by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, has already started tackling the bill.
According to the Ilonggo senator, the passage of the bill will greatly change the current political scene in the country. He said the Filipinos have been seeking for such measure over the past 27 years.
Meanwhile, President Benigno Aquino III may not call for the early passage of the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill. He is not too keen to make the bill a priority of his administration, Presidential Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma said
Other pending bills in Congress are more pressing than the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill, Coloma stressed./PN
