Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Garcia on Monday, August 7, suggested to a Senate committee to put additional qualifications to ensure that party-list nominees are true members of marginalized sectors.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia (MB File Photo)

Garcia stressed that this is not a violation of the 1987 Constitution because that does not pertain to the qualification of members of the House of Representatives but qualifications of nominees of that particular sector of party.

The Comelec chief made the proposal as the Senate electoral reforms and people’s participation chaired by Senator Imee Marcos tackled two bills seeking to reform the party-list system in the country.

The measures filed by Marcos and Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa seek to ensure that the nominees of the party-list organizations are members of the sector that they want to represent.

These measures seek to amend RA 7941, or the Party-List System Act. 

Dela Rosa, a former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, said the hearing is very timely in light of the allegations that there are groups that have used and abused the country’s  Party-List System.

“During the 18th Congress, as a result of the series of hearings that this representation (dela Rosa) has conducted on the missing minors who were allegedly recruited by leftist groups, one of the recommendations of the Committee of Public Order and Dangerous Drugs was to amend RA 7941,” Dela Rosa said.

“We recommended that, after observing due process of law, there should be focus on the outright refusal or cancellation of registration of any national, regional or sectoral party, organization or coalition that advocates subversive dogma, and pursuant thereof, undertakes criminal acts towards this goal,” he said.

“In line with this, the recommended legislative action is now contained in my Senate Bill No. 201,” he said.

“Apart from this, I also proposed as additional ground for refusal or cancellation of registration the direct or indirect participation of the party or organization in acts detrimental to the best interest of the government, to overthrow the government or diminish its powers, or to be associated by any means to rebels or proscribed terrorist persons or groups pursuant to RA 11479, also known as the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020,” he stressed. 

Dela Rosa emphasized that his goal in proposing the amendments to the Party-List law is to ensure that those who have been granted the opportunity to participate in the party-list system are those who could genuinely contribute to the formulation and enactment of appropriate legislation that will benefit the nation.  

“There is no place in our government for those individuals or groups who aim to destabilize our duly constituted government from within,” he said.

“I hope we are one in putting an end to the bastardization of the party-list system. Let us restore the dignity of this system as originally intended by the framers of the 1987 Constitution,” he added. 

For her part, Marcos recognized the Supreme Court decision that includes sectoral and non-sectoral parties in the party-list system.

“Unfortunately, such interpretation made also the party-list system susceptible to abuse with the opening up to non-sectoral parties,” Marcos said.

“Likewise, the voice of those who are truly marginalized and underrepresented seemed to be drowned out in the sea of political parties and party-list groups with questionable if not entirely non-existent advocacies,” she pointed out.

“It’s obvious that these circumstances have helped create the evil that was sought to be prevented by framers of the Constitution…The primordial issue that we need to discuss is how far can we go in defining the party-list system?” she added.