FACT CHECK: The Manila Times inaccurately reports SC ruling on anti-dynasty bill

A Manila Times news article inaccurately reported that the Supreme Court (SC) wanted to “compel” Congress to pass an anti-dynasty law.

STATEMENT

On July 12, the Manila Times published a news report with the lead:

“The Supreme Court said Thursday it will move to compel Congress to pass a law defining political dynasties, which are prohibited by the Constitution.”

Source: The Manila Times, SC wants Congress to pass dynasty law (archive), July 12, 2024

It then proceeded to quote the SC ruling as saying:

“[The] long delay and abject failure of Congress to pass a law defining political dynasties for more than 30 years constitutes grave abuse of discretion, is unconstitutional and represents a continuing violation of the Constitution.”

The erroneous report has also been shared on their official Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter) account. As of writing, the post garnered around 3.4k reactions, 2.7k shares and 329 comments on Facebook. It gained 4.9k likes, 1.6k reposts and 236 replies on X.

FACT

The SC released a statement saying it has not issued a decision on pending petitions to compel Congress to pass an anti-dynasty law.

Court spokesperson Camille Ting said:

“(T)he article published… erroneous. We are already writing to have it corrected. (There is) no such decision. What we uploaded were the petitions and other pleadings asking the SC to compel Congress to pass laws related to political dynasties. These cases are still pending before the Court.”

One of the petitions uploaded on the SC’s website contains the quote attributed to the high court. It can be found under one of the petitioners’ “prayers” and is not a court decision.

The Manila Times has since published a new article reporting on Ting’s statement. Through an editor’s note, the publication issued an apology for the “misunderstanding.”

“Our banner story ‘SC wants Congress to pass dynasty law’ dated July 12, 2024 misinterpreted the Court’s posting of petitions that asked it to compel action on the passage of such a law, to mean it supported passage of an anti-dynasty law,” it said.

In March 2024, a group of lawyers from the University of the Philippines filed a petition to compel Congress to pass a law defining political dynasties.

In a 2013 decision, however, the high court ruled against a similar petition as compelling the Congress could violate the principle of separation of powers among the three branches of government.

Meanwhile, Sen. Robinhood Padilla filed on July 15 a bill seeking to fulfill the mandate of the 1987 Constitution to prohibit political dynasties.