A local advocacy group of scientists, architects and engineers are not optimistic about the passage of the proposed Anti-Political Dynasty Bill despite a recent Senate consultation in Bacolod City, saying the country’s political landscape is “rotten system” that inherently protects elite interests.
Dan Alcoriza, advocacy and alliance coordinator for AGHAM NIR (Advocates of Science and Technology for the People — Negros Island Region), issued the statement on Monday Feb. 16, following the consultation conducted by Senator Risa Hontiveros on the bill in Bacolod City on Feb. 13.
Hontiveros said she is hopeful the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill will be passed in March, but called on local governments and student groups in Negros to pass resolutions in support of the measure to boost its chances.
Alcoriza said his organization remains far from optimistic about any legislative breakthrough.
“Political dynasties are embedded in our rotten system,” Alcoriza said. “They are the cause of continuing poverty, destructive development, lack of industrialization, and human rights violations.”
A CENTURY OF CONTROL
AGHAM NIR said the grip of political clans is not a modern accident but a colonial legacy.
Alcoriza traced the roots of these power structures back to the Spanish era’s native elites and the “puppet republics” of the American occupation, which he claims were designed to favor landed gentry.
The group provided statistics to illustrate the current “family-based power structures” dominating the government as of 2025:
• 99 percent of the Senate
• 80 percent of Provincial Governors
• 67 percent of House Representatives
• 63 percent of Mayors
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“The line is already clearly drawn,” Alcoriza said citing a list of national giants like the Marcoses and Dutertes, alongside Negros-based clans such as the Benitez, Marañon, and Lacson families.
He claimed that these dynasties combine political office with business dominance to control local economies and resources.*
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