Toothless

We have a constitutional body tasked to run elections.

Like much of the dysfunctional state of affairs in our chaotic country, unfortunately, Congress and the judiciary have rendered the Commission on Elections largely toothless.

In this land of the comprehension-challenged, for example, the Supreme Court has ruled that there is no such thing as premature campaigning – even after aspirants have filed their certificates of candidacy and party-list groups have submitted their nominees, and before the start of the official campaign period.

Article IX of the Constitution, which created the constitutional commissions, opens with the provision that such bodies “shall be independent...”

That independence, however, is subject to intervention by the Supreme Court. And we all know how much the Comelec has been defanged by the SC. It’s disheartening to hear Comelec Chairman George Garcia affirming how much the hands of the poll body have been tied.

But Garcia prefers to look on the bright side. He told “Storycon” on One News last Thursday that the dismaying state of elections and politics, as manifested in the kickoff of the 2025 races, can provide enough actionable cases for the SC that can pave the way for reforms.

The bastardized party-list system, for one, needs a thorough overhaul, he told us. Short of rewriting the Constitution to abolish the system, the Party-List Act can be amended. Or else the SC can be asked to clarify its rulings related to the party-list, which have added to the confusion and abuse of the system.

There must be clarity on what sectoral representation means exactly. In certain countries in Western Europe, parties that truly represent specific sectors and advocacies constitute the government.

The 1987 Constitution identified the marginalized sectors that must be represented in one-half of the party-list seats in Congress: “labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth…”

But this specification of the sectors was good only for three consecutive Congresses. Lawmakers were also given the leeway to define the other sectors that can join the party-list “except the religious sector.” We all know what happens when lawmakers are given discretion over anything. Look at the tax-funded party-list monster that they have created.

Also needing clarity is whether party-list nominees should come from the sector that is being represented. The SC, interpreting the law, has ruled that there is no such requirement.

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The SC can also be asked to revisit its bizarre ruling that there is no such thing as premature campaigning.

Garcia told us that because of this ruling, it can’t even go after candidates who are now polluting public space with their campaign materials, with the most brazen litterbugs incumbent (or administration-allied) officials.

In my neck of the woods, for example, it’s painful to see the posters of Sen. Bong Revilla and Alice Guo’s BFF Benhur Abalos along with those of the local government ruling clans plastered on lampposts, walls, fences and arches of public infrastructure as well as trees.

Removing such trash is outside the Comelec’s mandate. But Garcia, a lawyer, thinks the issue can be treated as an environmental offense with corresponding sanctions.

For sure, most of such materials – especially those of incumbent officials – are bankrolled by public funds. Politicians have become masters of (mis)using people’s money for personal aggrandizement.

The Constitution expressly states that the Comelec can “recommend to the Congress effective measures to minimize election spending, including limitation of places where propaganda materials shall be posted, and to prevent and penalize all forms of elections frauds, offenses, malpractices, and nuisance candidates.”

Yet the Comelec can’t stop the proliferation of campaign garbage in public spaces even after candidacies have been formalized.

This system gives undue advantage to wealthy candidates and incumbent officials, especially dynastic clans that control nearly every aspect of local governance in their fiefdoms.

It makes election campaigns very costly, and makes it difficult for candidates with limited resources to break the monopoly on power of entrenched political clans or groups. This is one of the deleterious consequences of dynasty building.

This is an area where the SC can put the brakes on abuses, in the absence of self-discipline or political will in Congress to do so. The SC has been asked to compel Congress to carry out its constitutional mandate of passing an enabling law defining and prohibiting dynasties.

Let’s hope the usual glacial pace we’re seeing in the SC action on the issue will lead to a ruling that will elicit hallelujahs all around (except, of course, among the affected politicians).

Through legislation, dynasties have been banned in the youth councils or Sangguniang Kabataan. They are also banned in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao. This is for practical reasons, since so much deadly violence in the BARMM arises from clan wars or rido.

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Garcia told Storycon that he is personally against dynasties, premature campaigning and the abuse of the party-list.

He is hoping that with the situation spinning out of control and reaching shameless proportions in this election season, people will initiate the necessary action to put an end to the abuses.

At the same time, we’re now seeing certain lawmakers citing the need to amend the Party-List Act. We’ll be holding them to their word.

There should also be an effort – either through legislation or through SC action – to enforce Section 5 of Article IX. It states that constitutional commissions – the Comelec, Commission on Audit (COA) and Civil Service Commission – “shall enjoy fiscal autonomy.”

“Their approved annual appropriations shall be automatically and regularly released,” Section 5 states.

And yet we’ve seen congressmen grilling officials of these constitutional bodies on their proposed annual budgets, particularly in 2013 after the COA released its voluminous report on lawmakers’ misuse of their pork barrel.

Former COA commissioner Heidi Mendoza, who is running for the Senate, told Storycon that state auditors should not have to beg lawmakers for their annual funding. It injects toxic politics into the auditing of public spending, which is critical in preventing corruption and promoting transparent and efficient governance.

There are several issues that are now being highlighted, which can be clarified or corrected through legislative or judicial action.

Garcia is hoping that taxpayers will initiate actions to compel the implementation of the necessary reforms.

There might yet be a silver lining in the dark clouds that have formed across our country.