Etta to senatorial candidates: Shun political dynasties, money

Former Human Rights (CHR) Chair Etta Rosales PHOTO BY RYAN LEAGOGO/INQUIRER.net

Former Commission on Human Rights chair Loretta “Etta” Rosales has challenged senatorial aspirants to “restore the dignity of the right of suffrage” by preventing political dynasties, money politics and vote-buying from impeding on the Filipinos’ democratic rights.

During “Rundown 2019,” the largest youth-oriented election forum held at the University of the Philippines on Thursday, Rosales asked three of the 15 senatorial candidates present how they could prevent the party-list system from eroding, which she said had now been dominated by powerful political families and parties.

“The party-list system is a form of constitutional reform that was created to give voice to those at the fringes of society, like the ‘lumad’ (indigenous people),” said Rosales, who has served three terms as the party-list representative of the Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party.

“But the system seems to have lost its spirit because of the takeover of dynastic families,” she said.

Former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay, who’s running under the Liberal Party’s Otso Diresto slate, said political dynasties’ power to “buy Congress seats” through the party-list system was “totally against” democratic principles.

“As a law professor, it is clear to me that the prevalent situation has destroyed the dream and promise of a genuine party-list system,” said Hilbay.

Labor senatorial candidate Ka Leody de Guzman recommends increasing the number of party-list seats to 70 percent.

Money politics

“The Congress should be dominated by the mass line, especially since the largest chunk of our society is composed of the marginalized sectors,” he said.

Shariff Albani of the Labor Party added that sectors such as indigenous people’s groups should be represented by their own leaders in the national arena.

Money politics works, Rosales said, because candidates and voters engaged in vote buying often go unpunished.