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Friday, March 29, 2024

Solons nix call to abolish party-list system

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Party-list lawmakers have resisted Senator Robinhood Padilla’s proposal to abolish the party-list system.

In a statement, the Partylist Coalition Foundation Inc. (PCFI) disagreed to Padilla’s observations on the party-list system.

“Under the party-list system, an ideology-based or cause-oriented political party is clearly different from a sectoral party. A political party need not be organized as a sectoral party and need not represent any particular sector. There is no requirement in R.A. No. 7941 that a national or regional political party must represent a “marginalized and underrepresented" sector. It is sufficient that the political party consists of citizens who advocate the same ideology or platform, or the same governance principles and policies, regardless of their economic status as citizens,” the PCFI said in a statement released through former congressman Alfredo Garbin Jr of Ako-Bicol.

For her part, House Deputy Minority leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro said that “the party-list system should not be abolished but the law should be amended to ensure that it is genuine party-list groups from the truly marginalized and under represented are the ones who get registered and elected.”

Garbin, a lawyer, said the phrase “marginalized and underrepresented” should refer only to the sectors in Section 5 that are, by their nature, economically “marginalized and underrepresented.” These sectors are: labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, handicapped, veterans, overseas workers, and other similar sectors.

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For these sectors, the PCFI explained a majority of the members of the sectoral party must belong to the “marginalized and underrepresented.”

The nominees of the sectoral party either must belong to the sector, or must have a track record of advocacy for the sector represented.

Belonging to the “marginalized and underrepresented” sector does not mean one must “wallow in poverty, destitution or infirmity,” Garbin stressed.

“It is sufficient that one, or his or her sector, is below the middle class. More specifically, the economically “marginalized and underrepresented” are those who fall in the low income group as classified by the National Statistical Coordination Board,” the PCFI stated.

“Moreover, the minority maintained that the Party-List System Act and the deliberations of the Constitutional Commission state that major political parties are allowed to coalesce with sectoral organizations for electoral or political purposes. The other major political parties can thus organize or affiliate with their chosen sector or sectors, provided that their nominees belong to their respective sectors. Nor is it necessary that the party-list organization’s nominee “wallow in poverty, destitution, and infirmity,” as there is no financial status or educational requirement in the law,’ the PCFI said.

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