ALL INSIGHT

THE Commission on Elections ( Comelec), through Resolution 10420, promulgated the rules and regulations governing the submission of nominees of groups vying for party-list representation, among others, in the May 13, 2019 national and local elections.

Organizations and groups aspiring to be elected under the party-list system have been given a week, starting from Thursday this week and ending on Wednesday next week,

-

of acceptance of nomination. The

for the national position of senator. Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd -

Comelec Law Department. However, some political purists will be seeking

that he has already been elected and served two successive terms. Running for a third term as a senator is against the Constitution.

Party-list law

The party-list system was created by the 1987 Constitution whose Section 5, Article VI states that, “on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio, and those who, as provided by law, shall be elected through a party-list system of registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations. The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per centum of the total number of representatives including those under the party list.”

Likewise, the Constitution mandates that party- list repre

- tion or election from the labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, except the religious sector.

Republic Act 7941, or the Party-List System Act, was enacted in March 1995 to give full force and effect to the above-mentioned provisions of the Constitution. The primary purpose of the law was to “enable Filipino citizens belonging to marginalized and under-represented sectors, organizations and parties, and who lack well-

who could contribute to the formulation and enactment of appropriate

as a whole, to become members of the House of Representatives.“

Previous elections topnotchers

The Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (APEC) topped the 1998 elections. Bayan Muna dominated the 2001 and 2004 elections while

(BUHAY), a religiousbased party-list, took the top seats in 2007 and 2013. Ako Bikol (AKB), representing the Bicol region and the Bicolano people, won the most votes in the 2010 and 2016 elections.

A total of 46 groups won the party-list elections in 2016. AKB got the maximum three seats allowed for each party-list, while 11 other groups got two seats each.

Fake party-lists

The party-list law has not achieved its avowed purpose. A cursory review of the winning organizations, and their nominees, will show that most are neither marginalized nor

even one party-list that represents

to care for people’s eyes.

Majority of the party-list nominees are members of political clans — brother or sister of an elected congressman, son of a former congressman, wife of a provincial governor, outgoing congressman, former mayor, and the list goes on.

The law envisaged the party-list representatives to contribute to the formulation and enactment of ap-

constituents in particular and the nation as a whole. However, most of these party-list “legislators” have not successfully done their legislative jobs. How many bills have they

Section 6 of RA 7941 lists down eight grounds by which the registration of a party-list organization may be cancelled by the Comelec. Clearly, it is time the law is amended to include a new ground for the cancellation of a party-list registration – failure

while sitting in Congress.

Readers’ comments

I first wrote about the party- list system sometime in August 2016. Here are the top two comments elicited by the column:

From a certain JAY R: “Enough of the stupidity. Stop invoking the Constitution when it is so obvious

Anyway, how would you decide on which party-list organization

look for a truly “legitimate” partylist, which will advance and promote your welfare. What are your

Think over this quote from American cartoonist and humorist Frank McKinney Hubbard: “We would all like to vote for the best man, but he is never a candidate.”