System failure

Since the 1998 elections, twenty percent (20 percent) of the total number of representatives in the lower house are supposed to come from the party list representatives elected from the labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, elderly, handicapped, women, youth, veterans, overseas workers and professional sectors. These representatives are elected nationwide. Any party list organization duly registered and accredited by the COMELEC garnering at least two percent (2 percent) of the total votes cast under the party-list system in that election gets one seat. Each of said party-list organization is entitled to a maximum of three seats if it garners at least six percent (6 percent) of the total votes cast.

The purpose of allocating seats in the House of Representatives to these sectors is to provide a voice for the under represented and marginalized in relation to their ignored and neglected special interests and concerns or the advocacies they are espousing which ultimately redound to the benefit of the entire country. Thus these representatives are also supposed to be the eyes and ears of the people in the halls of the lower house dominated by politicians of the traditional variety coming from the ruling elite and political dynasties. To be entitled to participate in the party-list elections therefore does not mean that the members of the party must come from the poor and marginalized sector of society but that they represent the interests of the under represented and marginalized. The Supreme Court itself said so in the case of Ang Bagong Bayani vs. Comelec G.R. 147589,June 26, 2001. Indeed the law (R.A.7941) even allows an organization of professionals to participate in the party list elections as long as their purposes and advocacies, contained in their constitution and by-laws, are geared towards giving a voice and representation in Congress to those who remain on the fringes of our society, whether at the left or the right.

More importantly, the party-list system of electing members of the House of Representatives is a great opportunity to promote or at least start a new kind of politics of principles not of personalities. As provided by the law, the voters elect the parties and not the nominees of the parties. So the choice is supposed to be on the platforms that serve the best interest of the country.

But after three elections since 1998, the party-list system of representation has been a dismal failure. Of the two hundred twenty six (226) members of the Lower House, only twenty (20) come from the party-list system of representation out of a total of fifty (50) party list slots allocated by the Constitution. And there are so many reasons for this failure. First of all, the information campaign for purposes of educating the electorate on the matter of the party-list system which is the task of the COMELEC has been inadequate. Up to now, the electorate is not fully aware of the system and how it works. So come election time, they don’t vote for any party-list. Besides, most of the parties participating in the system do not bare their platforms but only use their wide network of supporters to get their votes and obtain seats in Congress. Thus most of the party list seats have been cornered by left leaning organizations with captive votes. The emerging irreversible trend under the party-list system clearly indicates the eventual control of the party-list representation in Congress by the leftist organizations thus making a powerful bloc to reckon with. Knowingly or unknowingly, COMELEC is instrumental in establishing this trend. It has allowed the registration of new parties under the system that are just splinter groups of the leftist parties already having the maximum allowable seats. In the process, COMELEC has weeded out from the list other organizations representing valid concerns and already registered in the previous elections without prior notice and hearing and without sufficient grounds provided by the law.

Curiously enough, our party-list representatives in the Lower House have been so silent about the fantastic monetary benefits and emoluments each member of the House is receiving. It took some courageous and resourceful investigative journalist to denounce or expose this repugnant practice among members of our Congress rendered more scandalous because our country and people are wallowing in poverty. Whatever happened to their platform of putting the interest of the people first? This is one single factor proving that the party-list system is not working. It’s about time the COMELEC should wake up.

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Don’t fail to watch Ipaglaban Mo on RPN 9 tomorrow and every Saturday at 2 p.m. Tomorrow’s episode is a legal battle on child custody