EDITORIAL - Party-list purge

The Commission on Elections has no choice but to exclude the party-list group represented by Juan Miguel Arroyo from the midterm polls next year, according to Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes. The Comelec chief explained that Ang Galing Pinoy, which represents security guards, missed its chance to justify its continued accreditation.

Arroyo, eldest son of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, announced yesterday that he was retiring from politics in 2013 anyway, after serving three terms as a member of the House of Representatives. His selection as the representative of security guards raised questions about the party-list system, which is supposed to provide congressional representation for marginalized sectors. Certain quarters argued that the system requires nominees to belong to the marginalized group they are representing. Can a man surrounded by bodyguards represent security guards?

Ang Galing Pinoy was the only one among 127 party-list groups represented in Congress that failed to justify its continued accreditation before the Comelec. The proceedings are meant to purge the party-list system of groups that undermine the spirit of the constitutional provision which seeks to provide congressional representation to margi-nalized sectors.

After an enabling law for the constitutional provision was passed, it didn’t take long before major political parties and even religious groups set up front organizations and had these accredited for party-list representation, in an effort to have a voice in Congress, including a share in the pork barrel. “Marginalized” was interpreted liberally, turning the system into a farce and leading to calls for its abolition. Many of the nominees of these groups did not even belong to the marginalized sector they were supposed to represent.

Even when the Comelec attempted a thorough purge, the sorry state of affairs persisted with the approval of the Supreme Court. With new leadership in the high tribunal, and with an intensified effort on the part of the Comelec, perhaps the party-list system may still be saved.