Last week, the House of Representatives approved on second reading an anti-dynasty bill that critics say will end up legalizing—rather than penalizing—political dynasties. It was silent on the party-list, meaning that political clan members can continue to be elected to party-list seats, taking their place in the House alongside their relatives serving in Congress and local government posts.
PCIJ examined the backgrounds, legislative records, campaign finance reports, corporate filings, government procurement records, and other public documents linked to 32 party-list representatives with dynastic ties. They comprise more than half of the 64 party list representatives in the 20th Congress.
We found that rather than broaden spaces for representation, the party-list system has become a safe haven for privileged elites, some of whom are facing serious graft charges. Rather than democratizing political power by providing marginalized sectors representation in Congress, the party list system has become a pillar of dynastic politics.
Edwin Gardiola is a prime example. Elected to Congress in 2022 to represent the Construction Workers Solidarity Party, he is not a construction worker. Far from it. He is a top flood control contractor and his family runs a construction empire.
Since 2016, companies owned by his brother Elmer, his wife Judy, and other relatives have secured around ₱40 billion worth of public works contracts. The Commission on Audit has since cited several of these firms for anomalous and overpriced projects in Davao.
More recently, Gardiola was reported to own three California properties worth around ₱1 billion.The Office of the Ombudsman is already conducting lifestyle checks on him even as he is expanding his political base in his native Batangas, where, in the 2025 elections, his sister Ellery and brother Earel won the mayoral and vice mayoral posts in the town of Mataasnakahoy.
Gardiola is not unique among party-list representatives. Here are our findings.
1. One in four party-list representatives have relatives in either or both houses of Congress.
At least 17 party-list seats in the 20th Congress are in the hands of families whose members are already in the House or the Senate.
Three of these representatives have family members in both chambers. Rep. Jocelyn Tulfo has a House seat representing the ACT-CIS party while her husband Raffy and brother-in-law Erwin are senators.
Senator Villanueva’s father, religious leader Eddie Villanueva, represents the CIBAC party-list in the House. At the same time, Senator Rodante Marcoleta’s son Paolo has a House seat as representative of the SAGIP party, a position the older Marcoleta held in the previous Congress.
Joel Villanueva, Rodante Marcoleta, and Erwin Tulfo had all previously served as party-list representatives before moving on to the Senate.
In the House, Ako Ilocano Ako Rep. Richelle Singson serves with her brother, Ilocos Sur 1st District Rep. Ronald Singson, while her second cousin, Rep. Kristine Singson-Meehan, represents the province’s 2nd District. The Singson clan–often described as a “super-obese” dynasty– has more than 10 members in elective office, including the governorship of Ilocos Sur and the Vigan mayoralty.
In Misamis Occidental, Asenso Pinoy Party-list Rep. Henry Oaminal Jr. sits alongside his brother, 2nd District Rep. Sancho Fernando Oaminal, while their father Henry Oaminal Sr. is provincial governor.
2. Party list representatives extend the power of political families into the third or even fourth generation.
For at least nine party-list representatives, the party-list system served as a launch pad for political dynasties looking to extend their grip on power into three or even four generations.
Kusug Tausug Party-list Rep. Aiman Tan and Kapuso PM Party-list Rep. Munir Arbison Jr. are respectively the fourth- and third-generation politicians from families that have long dominated Sulu politics.
In Davao, the Duterte clan expanded its political reach in the 2025 elections with the entry of another member from the third generation: PPP Party-list Rep. Harold Duterte, nephew of former President Rodrigo Duterte. The family’s roots in the region stretch back to Vicente Duterte–the ex-president’s father–who served as Davao governor in the 1960s.
Other third-generation Dutertes include Vice President Sara Duterte, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte, 2nd District Rep. Omar Duterte and Mayor Sebastian Duterte.
Meanwhile, the Abalos, Romualdez, and Revilla dynasties sustained their presence in national politics as their third-generation members secured seats through the party-list system.
3. Lawmaking has become a family affair, with some party list representatives co-authoring bills with relatives who are also in Congress.
Some party-list reps are adept at filing bills, but PCIJ found that nearly all of them were co-written and co-filed with their relatives in the House.
For instance, ABAMIN Party-list Rep. Maximo Rodriguez filed 523 bills and resolutions, more than any other party-list member of the House – but he wrote 98% of them with his brother, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez. Likewise, Ako Bisaya Rep. Sonny Lagon shared authorship with his wife Rep. Daphne Lagon in 60% of the 27 bills he filed since July last year.
Some political families appear to use their positions across both party-list and district seats to ease younger relatives into national politics and expand their legislative clout.
Newcomer Tingog Party-list Rep. Andrew Romualdez filed more than 270 bills and resolutions since July. However, 97% of those measures listed him alongside his parents, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Rep. Yedda Romualdez, as principal authors.
This was also the case for Agimat Party-list Rep. Bryan Revilla, many of whose 155 bills were jointly authored with relatives, including his mother, Cavite 2nd District Rep. Lani Mercado-Revilla, and his brother, Cavite 1st District Rep. Jolo Revilla.
None of this breaks the law. But it’s one indication of how the party-list system failed in its promise to accommodate a wider range of causes and voices.
4. Some party-lists rely heavily on votes delivered by family political machines rather than broad-based sectoral constituencies.
The party-list system was built on a simple idea: that Filipinos with the same interests, wherever they live, could unite behind a common cause. But in the 2025 elections, several party-list groups secured House seats by leaning on the local or regional political and patronage machines of dynasties, not their advocacy of causes or sectors.
Galing sa Puso Party-list, for instance, bagged 310,172 votes in Nueva Ecija alone–accounting for 85% of its national vote total–enough to deliver a seat for Rep. Jan Rurik Padiernos, son of the province’s former Vice Governor Jose Gay Padiernos.
Abono Party-list likewise drew overwhelming support from Pangasinan, where about 90% of its votes came from the political base of Rep. Estrella’s family. In Sulu, Kusug Tausug Party-list Rep. Aiman Tan obtained 78% of his party’s votes in the province where his relatives hold key posts, including governor and vice governor.
Similarly, Ako Bisaya Party-list was propelled by powerful political networks in Cebu. Rep. Sonny Lagon’s wife holds the province’s 6th district seat, while the party’s 2nd nominee, Carissa Garcia, is the daughter of former Governor Gwendolyn Garcia. The party gained 73% of its total votes from Cebu, helping secure its entry into the Batasan.
Some party-list groups also appeared to expand their reach by tapping political networks in more than one province.
CWS Party-list secured the bulk of its votes from two provinces—Batangas, the bailiwick of Rep. Gardiola, and Surigao del Sur, the home province of second nominee Melanie Joy Guno, whose father is 1st District Rep. Romeo Momo Sr.
Nanay Party-list followed a similar path. Although Rep. Florabel Yatco-Co received only around 7,000 votes in her home turf of Laguna, the party amassed roughly 200,000 votes in Pampanga alone. The party’s third nominee, Yolanda Miranda Pineda, is the wife of Pampanga Vice Governor Dennis Pineda.
5. Some spend so much on their campaigns, crowding out other party lists who are not as well financed.
On average, party-lists with dynastic ties spent P30.1 million, or about P0.43 per voter during the 2025 election campaign. By contrast, groups without links to political dynasties spent less than half this amount, averaging P13.9 million, or roughly P0.20 per voter.
This financial advantage was also evident among the top campaign spenders: eight of the 10 party-list groups with the largest expenditures were affiliated with political dynasties.
ACT-CIS Party-list emerged as the biggest spender, pouring around P163 million into the campaign to secure the seats of Rep. Jocelyn Tulfo and former Rep. Edvic Yap. Following closely behind was former Rep. Zaldy Co’s Ako Bicol Party-list, which spent P141 million.
After facing allegations involving anomalous public works projects, Co resigned in September 2025 while Yap stepped down as ACT-CIS representative last February.
Bicol Saro Party-list ranked third in campaign spending, shelling out roughly P117 million. Although Rep. Terry Ridon himself is not linked to a political dynasty, the party-list’s nominees include the wife and children of Camarines Sur Governor Luis Raymund Villafuerte.
FPJ Panday Bayanihan Party-list came next, reporting nearly P98 million in election expenses. The group is represented by Brian Poe-Llamanzares, son of former Sen. Grace Poe. Its second nominee, Mark Lester Patron, belongs to a Batangas political family and was identified as the authorized managing officer of V.R. Patron Builders & Developers Corp. in a 2021 DPWH contract.
Rounding up the top five is Tingog Party-list, with about P91 million in spending. Associated with the Romualdez political family, the group ultimately secured three congressional seats in the last elections.
6. Over time, families and their allies dominate party lists as well as district representatives, making the House of Representatives truly a House of Families.
Political dynasties seized Congress through a potent mix of business ties, command votes, and massive campaign war chests. These advantages helped political clans cement control to more than half of party-lists in the 20th Congress, up from less than one-third over a decade ago.
One way they do this is by passing on a party list seat from one family member to another after their term limits expire. For example, Abono party list representative Robert Estrella temporarily yielded his seat to his brother, current Agrarian Reform Secretary Conrado Estrella III in 2013, before returning to Congress in 2022 to represent Abono. In provinces with only a single congressional district, dynasties turn to party-lists to secure multiple seats in the House.
In Abra, Rep. Bernos won a party-list seat through Solid North party-list while her husband, JB Bernos, retained control of the province’s lone district seat. Similarly, House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan represents the 4Ps party-list while his son-in-law, Rep. Christopher Sheen Projemo Gonzales, serves as Eastern Samar’s lone district representative.
7. Some party-list representatives have been charged with corruption, malversation and other financial crimes resulting from their involvement in business or politics.
Some party-list representatives have built careers clouded by alleged corruption, mishandling of funds, and other offenses that cast doubt on their integrity and claims of representing the underrepresented.
In 2017, 4PS Rep. Marcelino Libanan was charged with graft by the Office of the Ombudsman over the alleged misuse of fertilizer funds. However, the Supreme Court granted Libanan’s petition to dismiss the case in 2022, ruling that the Ombudsman’s prolonged investigation violated his right to speedy disposition of cases.
Libanan also allegedly diverted funds to bogus non-government organizations linked to convicted scam mastermind Jane Lim-Napoles, according to the records of whistleblower Benhur Luy. The lawmaker has represented 4Ps since 2022, a party whose mandate is to represent the poor.
Abono Party-list Rep. Robert Estrella was likewise implicated in the pork barrel scandal, with the lawmaker allegedly receiving kickbacks worth P23 million, according to the National Bureau of Investigation. Abono was supposedly formed to advocate for farmers.
Rep. Rolando Macasaet touted his experience in leading state pension institutions while campaigning for a House seat representing the SSS-GSIS Pensionado party. When he was head of the Social Security System, the Commission on Audit found that the SSS had procured tissue paper worth P13.9 million without sufficient planning and supporting documentation.
Macasaet was also among the officials of the government-owned Philippine National Construction Corporation who were ordered by the Supreme Court to return excessive bonuses they had received from 2007 to 2010.
Meanwhile, Solid North Rep. Ching Bernos is facing vote-buying charges after an Abra resident alleged that she distributed tumblers with P3,000 in cash to education personnel at a DepEd summit during last year’s campaign.
Can Congress finally end elite capture of the party-list system?
The consolidated anti-dynasty bill, House Bill 8389, which is up for final approval, has been criticized for doing the opposite of its stated purpose— rather than limiting dynasties, it “legalized” them by allowing family members to hold national and local offices simultaneously.
At both the House and the Senate, anti-dynasty bills now ban only relatives within the second degree—parents, children, siblings and grandparents. The House narrowed its original fourth-degree scope, which would have included first cousins, aunts, and uncles. Party-lists were not mentioned in the House version of the bill at all.
While the Senate’s SB 1901 keeps the second degree limit, it also includes more restrictions on relatives running for the party list, as shown in the table below:
House minority Reps. Edgar Erice, Leila De Lima and the Makabayan block have withdrawn their support for HB 8389 and progressive groups are floating a People’s Initiative to push for a stronger anti-dynasty law.
“If we push for a realistic version of it [anti-dynasty law], we might end up sacrificing the effectiveness of the law,” said Atty. Izah Reyes of election watchdog Legal Network for Truthful Elections. “If it is not going to be effective then why pass a law?”
At least 12 bills in Congress propose extending the ban specifically to party-lists. Senator Risa Hontiveros’s SB 1656 would disqualify any party-list nominee related within the fourth degree to an incumbent official, another nominee, or any candidate in the same election. It also bars relatives from inheriting a party-list seat and prohibits government contractors from becoming nominees—a clause that appears in at least eight other reform bills.
Both tracks remain under review. The closest past attempt, in the 16th Congress, faltered before reaching a vote, and the Marcos administration has yet to signal whether it will spend political capital to overcome dynastic resistance this time.—With research from Guinevere Latoza, John Josua Jusi, Job Lozada, and Marty Apuhin
What was our process in writing this story?
PCIJ reviewed public records linked to 32 party-list representatives with dynastic ties. Documents examined include Statement of Contributions and Expenditures, corporate registration records from the Securities and Exchange Commission; and contracts from Department of Public Works and Highways.
Legislative records–including bills filed, resolutions, and authorship data–were sourced from the House’s Legislative Information System. To analyze bill patterns across the 20th Congress, we used Gemini to process and extract structured data from a large volume of legislative documents. The reporter then fact-checked the dataset.
Election returns and provincial vote breakdowns were drawn from official Comelec data. For this analysis, a province or city is considered a political family’s bailiwick if the nominee or a close relative holds or has held an elective position there—such as governor, mayor, district representative, or vice governor.
Where a politician’s primary base is a highly urbanized city or independent component city, the analysis also includes the surrounding province, on the basis that influence exercised from a city of that classification typically extends across the broader provincial area.
Information on political families was cross-referenced with news archives, official government websites, and previous PCIJ reports. Family relationships were verified through multiple public sources wherever possible.
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