Review
of Party-list System Takes Off
Many
Party-list groups want Republic Act 7941 or the Party-list law
amended and election procedures reformed to allow the country’s
poor sectors genuine representation in Congress.
This
consensus was reached during a round-table discussion (RTD) on
the Party-list system held last Nov. 29, 2007 at Balay Kalinaw,
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. Organized
by the Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), the
RTD, “Round 1: Assessment of the Party-list System (10 years
in 2008),” was attended by 25 representatives and nominees,
directors and staff of 16 Party-list groups as well as commissioners
of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) led by Rene Sarmiento
and lawyer Ferdinand Rafanan of Comelec-National Capital Region.
Also
joining or observing the discussion were staff of the Senate,
scholars from schools of governance, private institutions (such
as Prof. Felipe Miranda of Pulse Asia), as well as leaders of
people’s organizations, lawyers group National Union of
People’s Lawyers (NUPL), and NGOs.
Likewise
in attendance were representatives from foreign embassies and
international foundations.
Commissioner
Sarmiento said that although the 10-year-old Party-list law is
necessary, it is not adequate enough and agreed it should be reviewed
to be able to achieve its objective with regard to the marginal
sectors’ representation in the House of Representatives.
“The
Party-list system is a work in progress, a labor of love, and
a blossoming flower,” Sarmiento told the RTD discussants.
“A lot of things still have to be done [to achieve its purposes].”
Sarmiento,
a human rights lawyer and later legal consultant to the GRP peace
panel, also said the 20 percent allocation for Party list should
be filled up to allow better representation of the people.
Sarmiento
was also a member of the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted
the 1987 Philippine Constitution.
Voters’
education
Prof.
Bobby Tuazon, director of CenPEG’s Policy Study, Publication,
and Advocacy (PSPA) program, pointed to growing perceptions that
the Comelec lacks the capability to inform voters about the Party-list
system.
In
a paper he wrote for the RTD, Tuazon said despite the increase
in the number of voters in national and local elections, only
40 percent of these were able to vote in the Party-list polls.
“There
are other problems and flaws,” the PSPA director said. “Fraud
and violence which is a domain of traditional politics has also
caught up with the Party-list system.”
Felix
Muga II, associate professor of mathematics of the Ateneo de Manila
University, said the principle of proportional representation
has never been promoted by the government while the 3-seat cap
for each winning Party-list group is counter-productive.
The
3-seat cap promotes the break up of strong Party-list groups into
smaller ones and discourages parties from forming bigger coalitions,
Muga, who is also a CenPEG senior fellow, said.
“No
party can grow strong under the Party-list system,” he said.
Pulse
Asia’s Miranda, on the other hand, called on grassroots
organizations to build strong political parties of the poor. He
reminded the audience, however, that this progressive trend is
loathed upon by the elite who see it as a threat to their narrow
interests.
Miranda
also opined that if the Party-list system is indeed a “social
justice act,” then the country’s poor should have
representation in Congress greater than the 20 percent that is
currently allocated by law.
In
his closing remarks, Dr. Ed Clemente called for the removal of
all obstacles to the development of the Party-list system and
challenged CenPEG to play a key role in electoral reform as well
as on voters’ education in particular.
Among
the Party-list groups represented in the CenPEG RTD were Abanse
Pinay, Ang Ladlad, Anakpawis, Gabriela Women’s Party, Bayan
Muna, Batas, Kabataan Party, Senior Citizens Party, Partido ng
Manggagawa, and Akbayan.
The
event was also covered by the press.
