One vote for party-list

About two weeks ago, I received a bookbound copy of an academic thesis done by a fourth year high school student from Our Lady of Guadalupe Minor Seminary in Novaliches, Quezon City. It was a research about The Philippine Party-List System in the 14th Congress: A Study.

In one sentence that accompanied his thesis, the author introduced himself as Jose Maria B. Buenagua, a seminarian who submitted this thesis in partial requirement of his subject on English IV-Methods of Research. Obviously, even his professor, a certain Rev. Fr. Maxell Lowell C. Aranilla, Ph.D. (Academic Dean of the Seminary), was impressed by the research study and gave his student a grade of “Meritissimus” in his thesis.

Normally, I would just skim through the pages of such unsolicited materials that come to my desk. But something struck me about the very serious subject matter of the study done by a teenager who, I supposed, wants to become a priest someday.

So I tracked down the young author from the contact numbers he indicated in his letter. Fortunately, I got through to him yesterday and did some quick telephone interview.

The young author told me he is not yet a registered voter. He turned 18 years old last January. So I asked him why he furnished me a copy of his thesis. “It was my father who asked me to send a copy to you, M’am,” he replied. He disclosed that his father was a former party-list representative during the previous Congress. He is lawyer Jovi Buenagua from the National Confederation of Cooperatives (Coop-NATCCO), a party-list organization for cooperatives. He said his father is no longer in Congress but has gone back to his private law practice. So that settled my curiosity.

The topic of the party-list system was actually his “second choice” of subject matter for his thesis. Originally, he said, he wanted to do a research study on the youth of the Diocese of Novaliches. But his English teacher told him to come up with a “more interesting” subject for his thesis. So he decided to pick his second choice. “And I found it more interesting and I learned a lot from it,” he said.

I must admit that I myself learned a lot from reading his 103-page thesis. The young author noted with concern the kind of legislative output that each of the party-list representatives achieved for their respective constituencies they were supposed to represent. The 14th Congress, which will end in June, has a total of 268 members of the House of Representatives. Of this total, 43 party-list representatives sitting in Congress were included in this study while the rest, or 225, have regular congressional districts.

The Party-list System Act (Republic Act 7941) defines the party-list system as “a mechanism of proportional representation” in the election of representatives to the Lower House. According to Section 11 of RA 7941, party-list organizations shall be ranked from highest to lowest based on the number of votes they garnered during the elections. It further stated that those who received at least two percent of the total votes cast for the party-list system shall be entitled to one congressional seat each while those who received more than two percent of the votes shall be entitled to additional seats in proportion to their total number of votes. However, each party-list shall not be awarded more than three seats in Congress.

Party-list representatives, like regular House members, also get the same amount of “pork-barrel” allocations from the annual budget through their so-called priority development assistance (PDAF). The amount could reach as much as P30 million a year in PDAF. The only difference is that regular House members are elected in their respective congressional districts while party-list groups are elected nationally.

The study traced the shaky start of the party-list system in the Philippines in the first election of party-list groups during the May 1998 elections when there was only a small portion of voters who cast their party-list votes. Thus, only 14 party-list representatives out of 123 party-list groups that filed certificates of candidacy, made it after they got the required two percent threshold. From that time on, however, the party-list groups elected in subsequent elections have grown by leaps and bounds.

For purposes of the study, the author focused on the bills and resolutions submitted, advocated, and pushed by the party-list representatives during the 14th Congress. The young author cited that the bills and resolutions could be “good yardstick to perhaps measure their effectivity as a party-list representative.”

The author made a “report card” for each of the 43 party-list representatives according to the number of bills and resolutions either authored or co-authored. He tallied them in terms of application in three categories — local, national and sectoral. Suffice it to say, the study could be flattering for some of the party-list representatives in terms of supporting bills that really mattered for the “marginalized” sectors they were supposed to represent.

But for many of these party-list representatives, the author noted with dismay their respective legislative performances leave much to be desired. For some, it became a numbers game in apparent bid to show the high number of their bills and resolutions filed, but did not impact the marginalized sector he or she is supposed to represent to benefit their interest and welfare.

The author noted with concern this goes to show that party-list representatives who were supposed to represent their sectors that are marginalized and under-represented have not actually been serving their constituencies.

But while the party-list system has gradually gained recognition and due importance in the successive elections, the author rightfully noted there has been “a lot of pseudo party-lists” that have sprouted all over the place. In the light of the coming May 10 elections, the Commission on Elections have so far accredited 175 party-list groups out of 187 that have been included in the ballot.

As voters, we are entitled to vote for only one party-list from among those listed in the ballot. Let us not waste that one vote for party-list. –Marichu A. Villanueva (The Philippine Star)