JDV proposes parliament seats for overseas Filipinos

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. proposed yesterday the allocation of seats for overseas Filipinos in the envisioned unicameral parliament under the proposed parliamentary system.

He said representatives of overseas Filipinos would be included in the party-list system that would be allied with the regular political parties and which would not be limited to the "marginalized" sectors as now provided in the present Constitution.

"As conceived under this system, parliamentary representation would be accorded to millions of Filipinos in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Australia-New Zealand once a parliamentary government is in place, hopefully by early next year," he said.

"This will achieve synergy and better representation for the Filipino overseas communities in the Philippine government," he stressed.

In a two-page letter, De Venecia informed multi-millionaire Filipino-American Loida Nicolas-Lewis, national chairwoman of the National Federation of Filipino-American Associations of his proposal. The federation is currently holding a convention in Honolulu to mark the Filipino Centennial in Hawaii.

The Speaker was originally scheduled to address the federation but begged off and instead sent Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Constantino Jaraula, constitutional amendments committee chairman.

Aside from De Venecia, the Filipino-Americans invited Minority Leader Francis Escudero to speak on Charter change.

In his letter to Nicolas-Lewis, the Speaker said under the planned party-list system, a party-list representative "can become prime minister or head of government as political experience in Germany (whose parliamentary setup includes such representation scheme) proved on two occasions."

He said since party-list representation would be subsumed by political parties, "one of (the members even if) he’s not a politician but has great leadership can gain the support of the (political) coalition and become prime minister without having to go through the rigors of district election."

He congratulated Nicolas-Lewis and her colleagues for their activities marking the first Filipino arrival in Honolulu 100 years ago. The federation head hails from Bicol and has investments in that region.

Aside from lawmakers, the group has invited former President Fidel Ramos and several government officials to speak on investments, tourism, and the political and business climate in general.