PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said the party-list system has been abused by the country’s elite and vowed he will insist on its abolition when Congress begins to amend the 1987 Constitution.
Speaking at the wake of the militiaman who was killed in the ambush staged by the communist New People’s Army in Davao del Norte, Duterte said the party-list system has been turned into a mockery of the underprivileged sectors it was supposed to serve.
“Those who win [the elections] are those who have money, representing what? Security guards,” Duterte said, noting that the system was meant to empower marginalized sectors.
“That’s a mockery of the law,” he said, noting that wealthy politicians win because they can afford to buy votes even if they only represent what Duterte called the United Idiots Association.
“This party-list will never come to be under a new constitution. I will insists, no party-list. That has been abused by everyone. They are all over the place,” Duterte said.
In the incumbent 17 th Congress, the Commission on Elections proclaimed 46 organizations as winners in the party-list elections and now occupy 59 seats in the House of Representatives.
Only the regional party Ako Bicol got the maximum 3 seats allowed while 11 organizations each got two seats each. The 34 other organizations got one seat each.
But party-list congressmen have also played a crucial role in pushing Duterte’s legislative agenda after 20 party-list representatives unified and elected Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez as House minority leader.
The party-list lawmakers said they backed Suarez to prevent the Liberal Party from getting the post and possibly obstruct Duterte’s legislative agenda.
The 20 party-list congressmen, who abstained from voting for the speakership, were told to elect the minority leader. They went for Suarez after they themselves tried to seek concession from House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
The 52-strong Coalition of Party-list Foundation, led by Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe, earlier signed a coalition agreement with Duterte’s Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Laban ng Bayan signifying their support for Duterte’s candidate Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.
On Monday, however, 20 of the party-list congressmen abstained from voting for the Speaker as they demanded that they be allotted one deputy speaker post, and considering that 52 was bigger than the 30 of the LP wing led by former House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.
House sources said the leadership was willing to accommodate Batocabe’s group and was adding two more slots for deputy speaker from six to eight. Five deputy speakers have been named already.