Senator Risa Hontiveros and the Akbayan party list group are pushing for sweeping reforms in the party list system to prevent abuses through Senate Bill No. 1656, which seeks to ban political dynasties and nominees with interests in government contracts, as well as bar groups named after TV or radio shows, state aid programs, and public figures, among others, to ensure genuine sectoral representation.
In her Senate Bill No. 1656, Hontiveros seeks to bar political dynasties as well as party list nominees and representatives with interests in government contracts from participating in the party list system. She noted that a counterpart bill (House Bill No. 7074) had also been filed by Akbyan Representative Chel Diokno, Perci Cendaña, and Dadah Ismula, together with Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-ao.
“[T]his bill aims to reclaim the voice of ordinary Filipinos who have been shut out of power because of abusive personalities who are using the party list system as a backdoor to power. If they’re not genuinely fighting for the Filipino people, they don’t belong in this system,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
She noted that the framers of the 1987 Constitution institutionalized the party list system under Article VI, Section 5 as a transformative mechanism for representation.
However, structural weaknesses have frustrated the development of a mature party list system, she noted.
The system has also been undermined by actors who treat party list organizations as “electoral vehicles for patronage, corruption, and dynastic entrenchment.”
The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism recently reported that 66 percent of party lists in the 19th Congress had at least one nominee from an established political dynasty.
Congressional inquiries into anomalous flood control projects have also revealed that some party list representatives benefited directly from government projects by acting as contractors.
“This blatant conflict of interest has no place in a democracy,” Hontiveros said.
In addition, both bills also seek to prohibit the registration of party list organizations named after television or radio programs, state aid programs, public officials, celebrities, and other public figures to ensure that the system remains focused on genuine sectoral representation.
The bill also proposed the removal of the 3-seat limit to enable full, democratic, and proportional representation.
The party list system has been misused, abused, and exploited by politicians and their dynasties for far too long, because just like the still-missing anti-dynasty law, the country’s powerful political elite would rather keep those convenient loopholes open so they can perpetuate their grip on power and all the perks that come with it. It is high time it is reformed so it can fulfill its purpose, which is to be a transformative mechanism for representation, instead of being a tool for politicians to serve their own interests by staying in power.*
