The Party-list System Act of 1995 or Republic Act (RA) No.7941 must be overhauled in order to prevent the abuse of party-lists by individuals who don't have any business being nominees in the House of Representatives.

Thus, said Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman George Garcia when asked about the issue during the agency's budget hearing Monday, Sept. 1 before the Committee on Appropriations.

Raising this matter was Akbayan Party-list Rep. Chel Diokno, who slammed the supposed presence of contractor and political dynasty members among his fellow party-list solons.

“Ano bang magagawa ang Comelec o ito ba po ba ay problema na naman ng batas? (Can Comelec do something to address this, or is there a problem of the law?)" he asked Garcia.

The Comelec head honcho noted that it's been two decades since the party-list law was tweaked. "Walang pagbabago kahit isang salita, kahit isang paragraph, kahit isang sentence sa RA No.7941 (There has been no change to RA No. 7941, not one word, one paragraph, or one sentence)."

Further responding to Diokno, Garcia said: "It requires legislation. It should not only be an amendment, but it should be a revision of RA No.7941."

At any rate, the Comelec chief cited the changing legal views on party-list throughout the years.

“Ang unang interpretasyon, Madam Chair, sabi po ng Korte Suprema (The Supreme Court 's first interpretation, Madam Chair), you must not be a resident of Forbes Park and Dasmariñas Village so that you can become a nominee,” he said.

“However, in the later, in the subsequent case of Banat vs. the [Comelec], sabi ng Supreme Court, you don't need to be wallowing in poverty. Hindi naman kinakailangang gumagapang sa kahirapan. Sapat na lang na meron proven advocacy doon sa sektor na kanyang nirerepresenta," explained Garcia, who like Diokno is a lawyer.

(Having a proven advocacy for the sector you're representing is enough.)

"Kung ikaw ay super bilyonaryo, pwede ka magrepresenta ng mahihirap basta meron kang proven advocacy. Kung ikaw po ay babae o lalaki, pwede ka pong mag-represent ng kababaihan kahit ikaw ay lalaki. So 'yun po ay mga pagbabago na mismo ang Korte Suprema, Madam Chair, ang nagsabi," he said.

(If you are a super billionaire, you can represent the poor as long as you have a proven advocacy. If you are a woman or a man, you can represent women even if you are a man. These are changes that the Supreme Court itself, Madam Chair, has declared.)

So what to do now? Garcia reckoned that Congress should pass a law that would define the sectors that need to be represented in the House of Representatives.

“If we can define the 10 sectors, for example, and we can allocate how many per sector, 'yung lahat ng party-list na ina-accredit ng Comelec (to all the party-lists that Comelec accredits). Halimbawa kung mga kababaihan tatlumpu't lahat sila, sila ang maglalaban-laban doon sa particular sector na 'yan. 'Yan po, Madam Chair, ang ginawa sa Parliament ng Bangsamoro.

(For example, in the women's sector, if there’s 30 of them then they will be the ones to vie for the representation of that sector. That's what's the Bangsamoro Parliament did, Madam Chair.)

'Yung pong sectoral organizations nila ay nakabase sa particular sector at 'yung assembly na ginagawa, gagawin po nila ngayong September ay naka-base sa iba't-ibang sector na dini-define mismo ng batas,” Garcia further said.

(Their sectoral organizations are based on specific sectors, and the assembly they are holding, or will hold this September, is based on the various sectors defined directly by law.)

Akbayan Party-list led the party-list race during this year's mid-term polls. It won three seats in the House as a result.