Sotto: Burden on Comelec to fix party-list system

Senate President Vicente Sotto III agrees that the country’s party-list system has been “abused,” amid reports that groups seeking representation in the House of Representatives are filled with members of political clans and people who do not belong to marginalized sectors.

But Sotto put the onus of cleaning up the system on the Commission on Elections (Comelec), as a new law reforming it could be a long shot.

“The ball is now in the hands of the Comelec,” he said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum on Wednesday.

According to Sotto, the Comelec could disqualify any candidate or party-list group on its own initiative.

Through legislation

Waiting for a new law might take too long, he said.

“If we do it through legislation, do you think removing the party-list system would be approved in the House of Representatives? It is filled with party-list members,” he said.

Sotto also noted that the Supreme Court had allowed groups that did not represent the marginalized and unrepresented sectors to join the party-list election.

The matter could be set for discussion again, he said.

“I think there should be a different debate on this matter,” he said. “There must be a new petition to the Supreme Court.”

Election watchdog Kontra Daya earlier lamented that members of political clans had been entering the party-list race, making it harder for groups that represented the marginalized sector to win seats in the House.

Sons and daughters

It noted that Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez’s daughter Ana was the first nominee of 1 Alliance Advocating Autonomy Party, while the Probinsya Ako party-list group had as its nominees the son and another relative of Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, a former House majority leader.

And it is not just political clans that have been crowding the party-list race.

Kontra Daya has also found groups that represent special business interests and those with questionable advocacies and nominees.

It noted that Construction Workers Solidarity was headed by former Public Works Undersecretary Romeo Momo Sr., who was under investigation for alleged irregularities in road projects.

The first nominee of the Sandigan ng mga Mangggawa sa Konstruksyon is real estate developer Enrique Olonan, the group said.