Sotto: Bill banning 2 senators from same family won’t hurdle Senate

Senator-elect Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III— File photo

MANILA, Philippines — Presumptive Senator Vicente Sotto III on Friday said a bill that seeks to prohibit two senators coming from the same political family won’t be passed in the Senate.

Sotto made this remark in an INQToday interview when asked about such a possibility.

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“We will not be able to pass that law if we limit it like that,” Sotto said.

The upcoming 20th Congress will see some senators coming from the same political family. They are senators Pia and Alan Peter Cayetano; Mark and Camille Villar; Erwin and Raffy Tulfo; and JV Ejercito and Jinggoy Estrada, who are half brothers.

Sotto said he is not convinced that the term “political dynasty” applies to a national level.

“They were elected separately,” he explained. “The other sibling did not influence the election of another sibling.”

Sotto said political dynasties apply more on a local level, where politicians could influence the outcome of local elections.

“I think you should define a political dynasty as something where a family is very influential in a particular area,” Sotto said, partly in Filipino.

“The way I look at it now is the possibility of [defining political dynasty in] provincial level, municipal or city level or congressional districts. Perhaps we should find the definition (of a political dynasty) there, not at the national level,” he added.

“In the national level you would be limiting people from running but only because he is related to a certain senator,” he went on. “There is no influence that the incumbent senator can [exercise to] influence the outcome or the election of another sibling.”/mcm