Anakpawis calls for revision of party-list law

THE Anakpawis Party-list on Monday called for the amendment of Republic Act 794, or the Party-list System Act, to guarantee the representation of marginalized sectors, particularly workers, peasants and other underprivileged sectors in the country.

Anakpawis, in a news statement, lamented that party-list groups with connections to well-entrenched political clans or traditional politicians are topping election results.

The group particularly pushed for the enactment of House Bill 242 Genuine Party-list Group and Nominee Act filed by lawmakers aligned with the Makabayan bloc.

President Duterte recently called for the abolition of the party-list system and claimed it was being used by “leftists.”

Ariel Casilao, Anakpawis national president, said the country is now reaping the impact of the “erroneous 2013 Supreme Court decision allowing party-list groups not belonging to the marginalized sectors to run for the allotted House seats.”

Casilao said the 1987 Constitution clearly stated under the Legislative department “the party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per centum of the total number of representatives including those under the party-list. For three consecutive terms after the ratification of this Constitution, one-half of the seats allocated to party-list representatives shall be filled, as provided by law, by selection or election from the labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector.”

The Party-list System Act, Casilao added, should “enable Filipino citizens belonging to marginalized and under-represented sectors, organizations and parties, and who lack well-defined political constituencies .... ”

He admitted that urging Congress to push for this fundamental reform is “near to impossible,” even as he claimed that such a push could only be fulfilled with a broad people’s movement demanding such.

The election watchdog Kontra Daya earlier bared that at least 44 party-list groups who ran for the elections were controlled by political clans, 21 have connections with big businesses, while 34 were found to have unknown or unclear advocacies and representations.

It said at least 32 have connections with the government or military, while 26 have incumbent local officials running as party-list nominees and 19 have pending court cases or criminal cases.

For the recently concluded May 9 elections, the Comelec has listed a record 177 party-list groups.

Meanwhile, the top 6 winning party-list groups are ACT-CIS (5.8 percent of the votes), 1-Rider (2.78 percent), Tingog (2.45 percent), 4Ps (2.33 percent), Ako Bicol (2.29) and Sagip (2.1 percent).

The groups garnering at least 2 percent of the total votes cast are guaranteed one seat each. Those garnering a sufficient number of votes, according to the ranking, shall be entitled to additional seats in proportion to their total number of votes—a three-seat cap is imposed such that a party-list cannot hold more than three seats regardless of the votes garnered.