Does anyone still remember when the party-list system was still motivated by a noble intention, that is, to give the poor and the marginalized sectors a voice in policy making?
If we recall right, the 1987 Constitution established the party-list system to give various sectors, such as labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and “such other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector,” a platform to articulate and defend their interests via the legislative process.
Registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations could run as party-list representatives and constitute 20 percent of the total number of the lower chamber of Congress.
However, a Supreme Court decision in 2013 said the party-list is a system of proportional representation open to various kinds of groups and parties, and not exclusive to marginalized sectors.
National parties or organizations and regional parties or organizations did not need to organize along sectoral lines or to represent any marginalized and underrepresented sector.
That SC ruling—which basically turned the constitutional provision on the party-list system on its head—appears to have bastardized the system.
At present, the House of Representatives has 69 members from 66 party-list groups.
It is fair to ask: How many of the party list representatives really want to see change for the better in Philippine society?
And how many of them have hijacked the system mainly to give themselves power, pelf and privilege at taxpayers’ expense?
As chair of the Senate committee on electoral reforms and people’s participation, Sen. Imee Marcos is pushing for an amendment to the party-list law to prevent a wholesale substitution of party list nominees, which she fears has raised suspicion the system has been subjected to horse-trading.
“The definition of the party list system has become difficult to understand. We have heard nasty observations that this party-list system is for sale and this has been a recurring problem, because it is somehow true,” she said.
“Senators appear as beggars when compared to some party-list lawmakers,” she added.
Marcos said senators were now looking at limiting the entry of party list groups to only those that need representation as marginalized sectors, noting how the system has become a backdoor entry for millionaires and members of political dynasties.
Among the proposals being considered, she said, was providing the Comelec with longer period within which to verify the existence and track record of party list groups that are up for accreditation, as well as prohibiting groups from making substitutions of their nominees after elections.
Will these proposals prosper especially in the lower chamber?
We really don’t know at this point, considering that the party-list bloc wields clout because of their number.
But if democracy is to survive at all in this past of the Pacific, our Congress should have members who always think of the future of this nation, not of the next election.