Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III has filed a bill to overhaul the Philippines’ party-list system, arguing it has long strayed from its original constitutional mandate to give representation to marginalized sectors.
Sotto’s Senate Bill 192 seeks amendments to Republic Act 7941, or the Party-List System Act, citing what he called decades of abuse and distortion by groups that no longer embody the vision of the 1987 Constitution.
“Through the years, the interpretation of the law on party-list has expanded its qualification and has deviated from the intent of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, which is to truly represent the marginalized and the underrepresented,” Sotto said.
“The party-list system has also been abused and used as a vehicle to pursue advocacies that are not for the best interest of the government,” he added.
Under the proposed amendments, party-list registrations may be canceled if nominees or members do not belong to marginalized sectors, if groups cease to represent such sectors, or if they are found engaging in acts contrary to government interests. Material misrepresentation of nominees would also be grounds for disqualification.
Sotto warned that instead of empowering the underrepresented, the current system has “created more inequality, the very evil that the framers of the Constitution sought to prevent.”
“Amid the many issues hounding government officials, it is high time to revisit the true purpose of the party-list system, whether these groups are genuinely representing the marginalized, or merely hiding behind the guise of doing so for personal or political gain,” he declared.