By: Gabby Balcos
Photo Courtesy: Philippine News Agency
In a demonstration of legislative resolve, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has directed Congress to prioritize the immediate passage of four seminal governance measures, aiming for a structural overhaul of Philippine politics and public finance.
The mandate was issued during a high-level meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) on Tuesday, December 9, 2025, attended by key leaders including Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Faustino Dy III.
This legislative agenda centers on four interconnected bills: the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill, the Party-list System Reform Act, the Independent People’s Commission (IPC) Act, and the Citizens Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) Act. Palace Press Officer Claire Castro confirmed the directive, explaining that the President’s push is designed to stop the documented "abuse of power" and strengthen citizens' choices.
“The President wants to let the people know that you have a choice— one based on merit, not just because you share the same surname,” Castro announced in a press conference on December 10, 2025, clarifying the administration’s shift in focus.
The move has prompted calls for expedited action. Senator Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, a key proponent of the IPC Act, urged the President to certify the four bills as urgent. “It's a welcome move on the part of the President pero palagay ko, mas aani ng maraming suporta sa mga kababayan natin kapag cinertify niya na urgent yung apat,” Pangilinan said. He noted that without such certification, these reforms face the prospect of being sidelined by the 48 other measures already on the priority list.
Perhaps the most compelling and politically sensitive of the four is the Anti-Political Dynasty Bill. The measure seeks to fulfill the long-dormant constitutional mandate to prohibit political dynasties, a provision that Congress, largely composed of members from political families, has failed to enact for nearly four decades.
The bill defines its prohibition with clear and stringent boundaries. It bars any individual from running for or holding an elective office, whether national or local, if they have a relative up to the fourth degree of consanguinity or affinity who is an incumbent elected official. This inclusion of the fourth degree of relationship and its application across both national and local posts is crucial, as it addresses the common strategy of families cycling power through cousins, in-laws, and other relatives to maintain political monopolies.
Despite the irony that President Marcos Jr. himself belongs to a prominent political clan , the prioritization sends a powerful signal to legislators.
Manila Rep. Ernesto Dionisio Jr. acknowledged this influence, stating, “The President's prioritization of the anti-dynasty measure sends a very strong signal that Malacañang – the President – is really pushing for this. Malaki ang magiging influence niyan sa mga Representatives that there is a big support from the President.”
A necessary complement to the anti-dynasty effort is the proposed Party-list System Reform Act. This legislation aims to correct the systemic failure of the party-list system, which was constitutionally designed to provide proportional representation for marginalized and underrepresented sectors. Regrettably, the mechanism has been widely exploited as a "backdoor to power" by wealthy political families and corporate interests.
A 2025 report from the election watchdog Kontra Daya found that 86 of the 156 accredited party-list groups in the recent elections were linked to political dynasties or large business interests, highlighting the severity of the institutional capture.
Senator Bam Aquino, a leading proponent, underscored the urgency of the matter, saying, “These findings underscore an urgent and undeniable truth: the party-list system is being exploited by the powerful at the expense of those it was designed to uplift.”
The final two priority bills establish new structural safeguards against corruption and fiscal opacity.
The Independent People’s Commission (IPC) Act seeks to create a permanent, non-partisan body with fiscal autonomy to investigate large-scale public sector corruption, particularly as exposed in infrastructure and public works anomalies. The Commission is designed to complement existing investigative bodies by enhancing technical capacity and coordination.
The IPC's structural integrity is upheld by requiring a five-member panel that includes two representatives from the private sector, and by institutionalizing social accountability through the active involvement of civil society organizations and people's groups in its fact-finding. To ensure decisiveness, the bill includes a sunset clause; the Commission is set to operate until June 30, 2028, unless extended by law.
Pangilinan explained that this time-bound provision is intended to force the body to act fast to uncover the truth of what he described as the “largest, most massive corruption scandal in the history of the country.”
Lastly, the Citizens Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) Act targets fiscal transparency by making government spending fully visible in near real-time. The bill mandates the creation of a unified, tamper-resistant digital portal where all national government agencies must upload transaction details, procurement documents, and contractor information.
Crucially, this data must be shared in a structured, machine-readable format within seven days of issuance, release, or payment, enabling public scrutiny and cross-checking. This institutionalized transparency is further secured by a groundbreaking feature: the introduction of penalties for officials who fail to publicly disclose the mandated budget documents.
Together, this quartet of measures presents the most ambitious package of systemic governance reforms put forward in years. While the accountability bills (IPC and CADENA) are expected to proceed with less friction, the electoral reforms (Anti-Dynasty and Party-list) will test the political will of a Congress whose own composition they directly challenge.