ANG party-list system ning atong nasud nahimo nang usa ka trahedya. Naa tingale’y mosupak nato sa atong pagsulti niana. Apan unsaon pa man diay nimo pagsabut sa kahimtang diin ang anak ni President Gloria Arroyo mismo nahimong representante sa party list alang sa mga Security Guards?!
Binuang! Tinunto! Bugal-bugal.
Article VI of our Constitution provides for a party-list system of registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations, whose representatives shall constitute at least 20 percent of the total members of the House of Representatives.
The original framers of our Constitution had the best intentions in allowing the marginalized sectors of our society to get represented in our national legislature. Such an idea is in-keeping with the progressive tendency of the 1987 Constitution.
This constitution is pro-human rights, anti-nuclear, and pro-life, among other positive characteristics that it has. The party list system of representation is a new approach as far as our country is concerned. It goes well with the open party system where any group that qualifies under the requirements of the Commission on Elections may apply for accreditation as a legitimate political party.
The enabling law for the Party List System, however, has been amended many times to suit the whims and caprices of vested interests, particularly the Members of Congress themselves who look forward to running under the party list system when their nine-year term expires. Or, to allow members of their families to avail of such opportunity.
There is hardly any genuine representative of the poor and under-represented sectors among them. Or, if there is at all, they are few and far between. Perhaps, Akbayan, Bayan-Muna, Gabriela, and their leftist kind are activists. But they do represent the sectors that they claim to represent. In that sense, they are genuine.
There are a few others like them, such as the representatives of cooperatives and labor. But they are still in the minority. Most party list representatives are from the elite sector of our society. It defeats the very essence of its purpose under our Constitution.
In fact, the congressmen who were looking forward to capture the party list seats even amended the law to make it appear that the party list system is no longer for the marginalized and the poor, but for any sector who will qualify under the COMELEC’s requirements.
Under such circumstances, it will no longer be surprising for us to see lawyers, doctors and millionaires representing carpenters and barbers to Congress. Muot pero pungot!
Ang atong panultihon karong semanaha gikan sa Stoic Philosopher nga si Epictetus: “Ang mga edukado lamang mao’y gawasnon”. Ug tugob sa kasubo usab natong idugang ang pag-ingon: “Bisan ang mga kunohay edukado nailad gihapon sa Cambridge Anaytica, Facebook, Youtube ug Tiktok”.
