Senate President Vicente "Tito" Sotto III on Saturday, Jan. 24, expressed his optimism for the proposed measures in Congress that seek to reform the country's prevailing party-list system.

In an interview with Usapang Senado on DWIZ, Sotto says this is one of the measures that President Marcos wants to be implemented.

This is also among the four legislative measures that the President asked senators and congressmen to prioritize.

Sotto also believes that it has a high chance of getting passed in the House of Representatives despite the significant number of party-list representatives there.

"Malaki ang pag-asa. Una, gusto ng Pangulo. Pangalawa, yung mga district representatives bigla silang natatauhan ngayon na bakit tinatabunan sila nitong mga party-list? (There’s a good chance. First, the President wants it. Second, the district representatives are suddenly realizing why these party-lists are overshadowing them)," Sotto said.

"Itong nakaraang tatlong taon ni President Marcos bakit puro party-list ang chairman ng House Appropriations Committee? Di ba dapat yung legitimate na district-elected congressman? So yung mga district congressmen nag-iisip na (Why have the past three years under President Marcos seen only party-list members as chairpersons of the House Appropriations Committee? Shouldn't it be a legitimately district-elected congressman? So now the district congressmen are starting to wonder)," he added.

Sotto himself has filed Senate Bill (SB) No. 192, which seeks to amend Republic Act (RA) No. 7941, otherwise known as the Party-List System Act, to realign the system with its original intent under the 1987 Constitution.

The measure outlined additional grounds for the cancellation of registration of party-list groups, including failure to represent the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, instances where members or nominees do not belong to these sectors, direct or indirect participation in acts detrimental to the best interest of the government, ceasing to be a marginalized sector, and material misrepresentation of nominees.

Sotto emphasized that the deviation from the true mandate of the party-list system has instead created more inequality, the very evil that the framers of the Constitution sought to prevent.

"Kaya ang maganda ayusin na itong party-list system na ito (That's why it would be good to reform this party-list system)," he said.

Sotto said that next week, there's a scheduled hearing in the Senate that would tackle the pending anti-political dynasty bills under the Electoral Reforms Committee, chaired by Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo "Ping" Lacson.

He said that as long as the President asked for it, there's a chance of it getting passed.

In a separate interview, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said that in his 20 years in politics, this is the first time he encountered that the push for an anti-political dynasty law came from the executive.

"Of course, yung form, kung anong form, anong level ng political dynasty, yan ay malaking debate. Pero in terms of nalagay sa LEDAC at merong ring pagsangayon ng ating Pangulo, malaking bagay yan (Of course, the form—what type or level of political dynasty—is a big debate. But in terms of what has been included in LEDAC and has the approval of our President, that is a significant development)," he said.

In terms of its chances getting passed, he said: "Malaki ang chance. I think ang question na lang dyan, anong form, at anong level ng political dynasty (There’s a big chance. I think the only remaining question is what form and at what level the political dynasty will take)."