Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (Pimentel's Facebook page)

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, who filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) to run for representative of Marikina City's 1st district, vowed to reform the party-list system,  which he said political families have used to expand their power.

Pimentel said in a press briefing on Monday, Oct. 7, that the “essence” of party-list representation--which was originally meant for the poor and the marginalized--had been “ruined’ by the so-called dynastic politicians.

“Lumalaki ang political family, ‘yung elective position sa isang lugar kulang na para sa kanila. Paano madagdagan? Party-list, ganoon na ‘yung nangyayari,” he explained.

(The political family is growing, and the elective positions in one area are no longer enough for them. How to increase? Through the party-list, that's what's happening.)

Article VI of the 1987 Constitution states that the House of Representatives shall have a party-list system of “registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations”.

It also cited that the party-list groups shall be from the labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector.

According to Pimentel, political families are able to bypass this provision through the word “regional” which recognized the creation of regional party-lists, wherein families have political strongholds.

With this, the aspiring House member aims to reform the party-list system by reforming the Constitution itself.

“Aayusin natin yan pero syempre may ingat din. May binabantayan dito pagdating sa Constitutional reform, ‘yung mga term limits, yung length ng term, binabantayan natin yan. We are against that,” he noted.

(We will fix that, but of course, with caution. We are monitoring the issues related to Constitutional reform, such as term limits and the length of terms. We are against that.)

Aside from his proposal to remove the word “region”, Pimentel says party-list groups should only represent marginalized communities and are limited to national constituencies.

“Then gagawin nating kondisyon na member ng marginalized sector lahat ng nominees (Then we will make it a condition that all nominees must be members of the marginalized sector),” he added.

Legislative agenda

Aside from pursuing Charter change (Cha-cha) to straighten out the party-list system, Pimentel said he will bring his experience and international exposure from the Senate to craft legislation for the good of Marikina.

Among his priorities is to revive the city’s iconic shoemaking industry by ushering in free trade agreements (FTAs).

“Sapatos equals Marikina. Dapat isabuhay natin ang promise na ‘yan sa ating FTAs (Shoes equal Marikina. We should live up to that promise in our FTAs),” he said.

The Senate minority leader said he will focus on dealing with Marikina’s debt, which amounts to P3.6 billion. He claimed that this was one of the highest among cities on a per capita basis.

He also intends to focus on the problem of flooding in the city, which he says needs a complete team effort with the local government. 

“So, kailangan diyan teamwork, ‘di pwedeng masyadong away sa local politics (So, there needs to be teamwork, too much conflict in local politics won't do),” noted Pimentel.

‘Fix’ Marikina’s politics

If elected as a House member, Pimentel said he aims to “fix” the politics in Marikina to prevent aspiring politicians in the future from shutting down their ambitions.

“Kailangang ayusin ang politika sa Marikina kasi delikado kung ganito eh, kung walang salita, ang gulo ng usapan, ang gulo ng kausap,” the senator said.

(The politics in Marikina need to be fixed because it's dangerous like this, if there's no clear communication, discussions are chaotic, and confusing to talk to people.)

He was referring to the surprise move of incumbent Marikina Mayor Marcelino Teodoro to run for the same House seat.

Pimentel said that he was invited to run for congressman in the city’s first district by the Teodoro family. He said the mayor was supposed to run for the second district.

To show “good faith”, Teodoro transferred his voter’s registration to district two in February of this year but surprisingly returned to district one last month, he said.

“Yung mga palipat-lipat, there will be political implications, possible legal implications, so paubaya ko na sa election lawyers ‘yan,” said Pimentel. 

(For those who keep switching districts, there will be political implications, possible legal implications, so I'll leave that to the election lawyers.)

Pimentel, who will be running as a guest candidate of the Nacionalista Party (NP), said he will be the candidate for Marikina residents who want political change.

“I will be there as the other choice,” he continued.