Pia Cayetano on dynasties: Elect candidates ‘based on capacity’

Senator-elect Pia Cayetano —Photo from an INQUIRER.net live video

MANILA, Philippines — Politicians should be elected based on their capacity, Senator-elect Pia Cayetano said on Saturday as she touched on the issue of political dynasties after being proclaimed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) at the Manila Hotel Tent City.

“I have a brother in the Senate. You can scrutinize his work. You can scrutinize my work. The work we do is different. We have different beliefs. We also debate with each other,” she said in Filipino.

Pia’s brother Alan Peter is also an incumbent senator.

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Aside from the Cayetano siblings, the upcoming 20th Congress will also see some senators coming from the same political family, namely Mark and Camille Villar; Erwin and Raffy Tulfo; and JV Ejercito and Jinggoy Estrada — the last two half brothers.

“So I truly believe that people should be elected based on their capacity, and this electorate has shown that it can choose candidates who they believe can serve them,” Cayetano said.

“I am always open to debates…I am always open to hearing what the issues are, and clearly there are issues [about dynasties],” she went on.

“But I still believe that, when a person is very competent, he should not be immediately judged as someone who should not be an elected official.” /atm