The Philippines is famous for its wealthy families that dominate local and national politics.

Among the hopefuls from prominent families running for Senate seats in the coming mid-term elections are the son of the current Senate president and the brothers of two serving senators.

Analysts told the Straits Times that political families - exploiting a loophole in a constitutional ban on political dynasties - are out to corner an increasing number of national and local government posts to entrench and widen their power bases.

The polls are not until May next year but voter registration already closed this month.

Around 18,000 local and national government posts, except for the presidency, will be contested.

The continuing rise of the political dynasties is the most debated issue of these elections.

“They are really propagating, and particularly at the level of local politics,” said political analyst Vincent Lazatin, who heads a good governance think-tank.

Other countries also have prominent political dynasties.

In the Philippines, however, there are hundreds of them, and it is not unusual to find members of a political family occupying posts at different levels of local government, such as the positions of governor, mayor and councillor.

Political dynasties were banned under the 1987 Constitution restoring democracy.

But before the ban can be implemented, Congress must pass an enabling law which, perhaps not surprisingly, it has failed to do.

“This has sent a message that nobody else is qualified to run (for elected office) and that’s a terrible message,” said veteran politician and former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

Some progress in defining the sort of dynastic practices that should be prohibited is under way.

A Senate election committee last month began work on an anti-dynasty Bill, and the Supreme Court was recently petitioned to get the constitutional ban on political dynasties enforced.

Filipinos in general do not have a problem with a well-educated scion of a respected politician entering politics.

Mr Pimentel’s son Aquilino Pimentel III is a sitting senator. Said the father: “I never encouraged him to go into politics; it’s his vocation.”

And President Benigno Aquino, a popular leader who is winning praise as a reformer, although not on this issue, is the son of a former president.

Public dissatisfaction is mostly over the octopus-like hold political families have on elected government posts and the perceived abuse of term limits.

When a politician or official has to sit out a term before becoming eligible to run again, a family member usually takes his place, as a “bench warmer”.

According to local media reports, the wives or children of 11 mayors in the northern province of Isabela will be doing just that in the May polls, while numerous members of the powerful Jalosjos clan are running for local and national posts in three provinces across the Zamboanga peninsula in the south.

The suitability of some candidates is also under scrutiny - and none more so than the 33-year-old wife of boxing idol and congressman Manny Pacquiao, Mrs Jinkee Pacquiao. She is running for vice-governor in their home province.

“What, exactly, has his celebrity wife done to prepare herself for an exacting job as a local executive?” asked a recent editorial in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Even critics agree that some political families have produced good public servants and have even become “trusted brands” among voters.

A presidential spokesman told reporters recently that voters should “look at the qualifications and track record” of candidates, rather than their names.

Still, their presence has restricted broader participation in elections.

Lazatin rates the chances of the politicians themselves reforming the system as a “non-starter.”