Amending the Party-List Law

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Amending the Party-List Law

• Points for Consideration
• Agustin Martin G. Rodriguez
• Empowering Civic Participation in Governance

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PL as Electoral and Political Reform

• Political because it establishes a politics of
  programs that allows the marginalized direct
  representation in Congress
• Electoral because it introduces a system of
  proportional representation that is supposed to
  encourage the electorate to vote for parties

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Its Objectives

• To establish a system of proportional
  representation that allows marginalized groups
  direct and genuine representation
• To encourage the electorate to vote for parties
  based on programs and encourage the formation of
  parties based on platforms and programs

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Dismal Implementation

• In 1998, only 33.5 voted for the PL with only 14
  seats filled
• In 2001, only about 40 voted for the PL with
  only about 5 to 7 seats filled
• Thus party-list groups have only token
  representation in Congress

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The Heart of the Problem

• The lack of a clear allocation formula
• No clarity whether the party-list system is a
  sectoral or proportional system
• Or if a hybrid, what this hybrid aims at
• No clarity regarding who should be accredited
• Led to fiasco of 160 accredited groups

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• Cap of 3 seats encourages party splits
• Lack of an effective education campaign
• The 2 threshold seems is far too high for many
  marginalized groups to hurdle
• Almost ensures that the most marginalized and
  unorganized groups will not win representation
• This leaves most the party-list to be the domain
  of well-organized development NGO coalitions and
  ideological groups

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Dismal Results for 2001

• As it has evolved, the party-list system has
  become the domain of the organized civil society
  groups
• Groups with the least resources and capacities to
  conduct a national campaign
• A situation exacerbated by the lack of unity
  among the groups

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• One can view the domination of civil society
  groups as a positive development for genuine
  representation of the marginalized
• In fact, in the 11th Congress, they were able to
  bring to legislative discourse the issues of
  their constituents
• This backed by consultation and research

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• However, party-list groups seem unable to
  translate their good work into votes
• In fact, the results of 2001 seems to indicate
  the collapse of many of the more representative
  and effective of these party-list groups

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Notable Points

• MAD and Bayan Muna had phenomenal outcome with
  20 of the vote between them
• APEC which came closest only got 5.37
• Only 5 of the 10 qualifiers are incumbents

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• Most of the incumbents that are composed of civil
  society groups were edged out of the qualifying
  10
• Only Lakas and NPC qualified of the established
  parties
• The anti-drug and anti-corruption issues seemed
  to get votes for MAD and CIBAC

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• Despite the optimism of the incumbents they
  failed to win enough votes to qualify
• Many fell bellow the top 20 spot
• This is because
• They failed to awaken the votes of their
  constituencies
• They even failed to gain significant votes, many
  even losing votes in the tens or hundreds of
  thousands
• Some parties seemed to have collapsed

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• Many of these problems seem to indicate the need
  for civil society groups to act with greater
  consolidation
• It may also indicate the need for civil society
  groups to critically engage political parties
• These issues may not be addressed by legislation
  alone, however there are some amendments that are
  essential

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The Proposed Amendments

• Installing an allocation formula
• Number of seats x total votes of groups
• Total Votes of Qualifying Groups
• This ensures proportional representation because
• It takes into account the number of seats to de
  distributed
• And ensures a proportional distribution of seats
• Raising the 3 seat cap to between 5 and 10

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• Retaining the 2 quota to ensure a substantial
  constituency
• However, one proposal is to use the 2 quota from
  the previous election to allow smaller groups to
  prepare and plan more effectively
• Others propose that the quota be abolished since
  the results of the elections will yield an
  natural threshold

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• Implementing an education campaign in
  consultation with civil society groups
• Fixing the criteria for accreditation and fixing
  the accreditation process to ensure that only the
  representatives of the marginalized are accredited

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The Issue of Sectoral Representation

• Some sectoral blocks will argue that the spirit
  of the party-list representation is not fulfilled
  by the current system because the marginalized
  sectors will never be able to win representation
• Thus they propose that some seats be reserved for
  the marginalized sectors

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• 12 or 14 seats will be reserved for the basic
  sectors, the rest of the seats will be left open
  to proportional representation
• One seat for each sector will be reserved
• And the group that garners the highest vote in
  their sector will occupy the sectoral seat
• However a threshold will still be installed
• But groups will have to indicate under which
  system they will run

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• Two schemes of voting are proposed
• One vote per voter
• Two votes per voter
• One for the proportional system
• One for the sectoral seat
• (Although Rep. Marcos proposes 13 votes per
  voter)

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• Advantage of this proposal
• Sectors are assured representation
• Disadvantage
• Will not encourage consolidation and will not
  encourage engagement of political parties
• However, the reality of Philippine politics does
  not allow the margins to have direct
  representation any other way

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Points for Discussion

• Should the party-list system be primarily a
  purely proportional or sectoral system or
  representation? Or a clear mix?
• Which system should be adapted?
• Should the 2 threshold be retained as such?

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• How do we ensure representation for the
  marginalized and underrepresented?
• What are the criteria for accreditation?
• Will the proposed ban on the top 5 political
  parties be fruitful?
• How many seats should the cap be?