“Congress must consider reforms to the Party-List Law: stricter limits on political families and greater transparency in nominee disclosures“
THE party-list system in the Philippines, instituted by the 1987 Constitution with implementation details provided by Republic Act 7941 signed into law in 1995, reflects contentious issues of democracy.
Designed to give underrepresented sectors a voice in Congress, it has given political dynasties and business interests yet another avenue to tighten their grip on power.
Observers say it has allowed marginalized sectors like farmers, workers, women, and various ethnic groups to gain representation in the House of Representatives (HoR) and a mechanism for those without well-defined political constituencies to participate in lawmaking, potentially strengthening democratic governance.
But others contend it has been susceptible to manipulation by well-funded groups and individuals, claiming it does not truly represent the marginalized.
They argue the system lacks sufficient mechanisms for holding party-list representatives accountable to the sectors they claim to represent.
In February, three months before the mid-term elections, watchdog group Kontra Daya forewarned: more than half the 156 party-list groups vying for seats in the 20th Congress are controlled by entities outside the sectors they claim to represent.
Of the 86 party-lists it flagged, 65 were linked to political dynasties or big business.
As President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address on July 28 approaches and the 20th Congress formally opens, Comelec must prepare to deal with another abuse: the resignation of party-list nominees to make way for their real principals.
This is the nub as it were in the country’s party-list system
Under the system, a party-list submits a ranked list of 10 nominees, but it is the organization – not the individuals – that is elected, the goal moving away from personality-driven politics.
In reality, this has become an escape hatch for some individuals.
For garbled reasons, the true leader or intended representative may not be ranked first, and the first nominee assumes office but soon resigns, allowing the second nominee to take over, the process continuing until the preferred individual eventually gets the seat.
On Dec. 29, 2021, the Comelec published the final list of party-list candidates for the 2022 elections, which included P3PWD. On election day, May 9, 2022, P3PWD got 391,174 votes, or 1.0629 percent of the total votes cast for party-list organizations, earning one seat in the HoR for the 19th Congress.
On May 26, 2022, Comelec proclaimed P3PWD’s first nominee, Grace S. Yeneza, as P3PWD’s representative in the HoR. She later took her oath of office.
Court records show Yeneza and the remaining four P3PWD nominees resigned, citing various reasons.
In 2022, former Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon attempted to assume the congressional seat of the Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente at Persons with Disabilities party-list, despite not being on its original list of nominees.
On June 14, 2022, P3PWD filed before the Comelec the withdrawal of all five nominees and submitted the following substitute nominees: Guanzon, Rosalie J. Garcia, Cherrie B. Belmonte-Lim, Donnabel C. Tenorio, and Rodolfo B. Villar, Jr.
The next day, the Comelec issued Minute Resolution 22-0774, approving the withdrawal and substitution.
The long story short, Comelec proclaimed Guanzon as the qualified nominee of P3PWD to represent it in the HoR. Guanzon took her oath of office and submitted it to the House on June 27, 2022.
But two days later, the Supreme Court, citing violations of substitution rules, granted the Temporary Restraining Order, prohibiting Comelec from from implementing Minute Resolution 22-0774.
In 2024, the Supreme Court barred Guanzon from taking her congressional office by nullifying her nomination, citing grave abuse of discretion by the Comelec in approving her substitution past the designated deadline.
In an immediately executory Decision, written by Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario, the Supreme Court en banc directed P3PWD Party-List to submit additional nominees but prohibited it from renominating for the 19th Congress the nominees whose substitutions were invalidated.
A glance at the 2025 party-list reveals strange patterns.
Several groups have second or lower-ranked nominees who appear to share surnames. Examples include Magbubukid (two nominees named Albano); Ilocano Defenders (three nominees surnamed Say); Banat (three surnamed Ferenal); Turismo (two surnamed Teo); API Party (two surnamed Espino); Bangon Bagong Minero (two surnamed Co, two surnamed See); FPJ Panday Bayanihan (two surnamed Llamanzares); 1Tahanan (three Catulpos), and Nanay (two Bendicions).
There may also be other party-lists whose ties to business are hidden by the lack of similar surnames in their nominee lists.
When resignations are announced, we should ask: was that the plan all along?
Resignation is legal, election experts say. But when it is premeditated and used to obscure the true intent behind a candidacy, it becomes an act of deception.
If the real nominee cannot be transparent from the start, what else might they conceal once in office?
This loophole must be closed. Comelec should investigate post-election resignation patterns and determine whether they are being used to circumvent the law.
Congress, for its part, must consider reforms to the Party-List Law: stricter limits on political families within party-lists and greater transparency in nominee disclosures.
The promise of the party-list system is worth defending – but only if we refuse to let it be hijacked by those it was meant to hold accountable.
