ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider Sotto to file bill amending party-list system law

Sotto to file bill amending party-list system law

Published Jan 13, 2021 03:50 pm

Senate President Tito Sotto said Wednesday that he plans to file a bill that will amend the current Party-List System Law, a move he sees will address President Duterte's concerns on the country's party-list system without having to tweak the 1987 Constitution.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III (Joseph Vidal/Senate PRIB)

"I have been drafting a law that will amend the party-list law para mas malinaw (to clarify it). And will no longer be subject to interpretation of the Supreme Court or whoever, or Comelec (Commission of Elections)," Sotto said in the virtual Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

"'Yun ang iniisip namin para makumbinsi natin ng Pangulo at ibang mga kasama natin na hindi na kailangan ang Constitution ang galawin para i-address ang issue doon sa party-list system (That's how we think we will convince the President and our colleagues that we do not need to amend the Constitution to address the issue in the party list system)," he added.

The Senate chief had earlier disclosed that Duterte called for the abolition or amendment of the country's party-list system, particularly pertaining to Makabayan bloc lawmakers in the House of Representatives for their alleged links to the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army (CPP-NPA).

Members of the progressive Makabayan bloc have repeatedly denied this claim, saying they are pushing for legitimate concerns of Filipinos and have passed relevant laws.

But Duterte, he said, was not keen about just amending the existing law and wanted to purse this through a Constituent Assembly to revise the Charter.

In pushing to revise the Philippine party list system, Sotto lamented that the interpretations on the Republic Act 7491 or the Party-List System Act have already deviated from its original intent.

"During that time we were limiting it to marginalized sectors. Ang marginalized sa amin doon (Marginalized, to us, refer to the), urban poor, farmers, women, youth, indigenous people, labor. Doon lang talaga (It was limited to those sectors)," he said, recalling their debates before the law was passed in 1995.

"Kaiinterpret ng ibang sector (But because sectors kept interpreting it), both the Comelec and the Supreme Court, lumapad eh (it's coverage expanded).

"Babalikan natin 'yong tunay na marginalized (We will go back to its original intent to represent those who are truly marginalized)," he said.

Sotto said he will not specifically mention the Makabayan bloc or any party list group in the bill.

Instead, to address Duterte's concerns, "what we can do is come up with a provision saying that if you are working for the overthrow of government you cannot be qualified," he said.

"So if your group is working for the overthrow of government, you are not qualified. You cannot be a marginalized sector," Sotto reiterated.

He said he hopes his fellow lawmakers both in the Senate and House will support his proposal as he pointed out he is not pushing to abolish them.

"Dapat makisama sila, makitulong sila anong tama na gawin (They should cooperate, help in doing what is right)," he said.
Sotto said he might file the bill on Monday.

ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.