By Francis Allan L. Angelo

The National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections urged Congress to pass a stronger party-list reform law, saying two pending measures in the 20th Congress should be reconciled to prevent political dynasties, government contractors and wealthy elites from occupying seats intended for marginalized sectors.

“For more than forty years, NAMFREL has observed Philippine elections and documented a persistent injustice: the party-list system—designed by the 1987 Constitution to amplify the voices of the marginalized—has been systematically captured by the very interests it was meant to challenge,” the election watchdog said.

NAMFREL said the party-list system was created to represent farmers, fisherfolk, laborers, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and the urban poor, but has instead been “colonized” by powerful political and economic interests.

“This must end,” NAMFREL said.

The group welcomed the filing of House Bill No. 9906 and Senate Bill No. 2090, calling them “a serious and welcome legislative response.”

“NAMFREL commends the authors of both bills and urges Congress to see this work through to a conclusion worthy of the Filipino people,” it said.

HB 9906, filed by House Speaker Faustino Dy III and identified as a Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council priority measure, proposes to reorganize the party-list system into three tracks: sectoral, advocacy and regional.

The House bill would also disqualify nominees connected to political dynasties, government contractors, incumbent officials and former defeated candidates.

SB 2090, authored by Senators Vicente Sotto III, Ronald dela Rosa, Imee Marcos, Bam Aquino, Risa Hontiveros, Loren Legarda, JV Ejercito, Kiko Pangilinan and Robin Padilla, seeks to reserve fifty percent of party-list seats for traditional marginalized sectors.

The Senate bill also requires nominees to genuinely belong to the sectors they seek to represent.

“These bills do not contradict each other,” NAMFREL said. “They are complementary instruments addressing the same crisis from different angles.”

NAMFREL urged the Bicameral Conference Committee to merge the measures into “a single, stronger law that adopts the best and strictest provisions of each.”

The watchdog recommended extending the proposed dynasty ban to relatives of all incumbent elective officials at every level of government.

HB 9906 disqualifies nominees related within the second degree to incumbent senators and representatives, but NAMFREL said that restriction should also apply to local officials.

“Local political families use party-list organizations as readily as national ones,” it said.

NAMFREL also called for a stronger contractor ban, saying the five-year lookback period in HB 9906 is not enough.

“A nominee whose corporation holds an active twenty-year infrastructure concession remains in a conflict of interest on election day,” NAMFREL said.

The group said the disqualification should apply for as long as a government contract, concession, franchise or public-private partnership agreement remains in force.

NAMFREL also urged lawmakers to close what it called the substitution loophole in the party-list system.

It cited the cases of a former Department of Social Welfare and Development secretary and a former Commission on Elections commissioner who attempted to take party-list seats through substitution.

The watchdog said substitutions should be limited to death or permanent incapacity, with no replacements allowed after the close of the filing period.

It also said voluntary withdrawal should count as a served term.

NAMFREL said the final law should impose criminal penalties, not only administrative sanctions.

“Disqualification alone is insufficient deterrence,” it said.

The group called for imprisonment and fines against nominees, party-list officials and organizations that submit false declarations or violate eligibility rules.

NAMFREL also urged Congress to require the Commission on Elections to maintain a public digital registry of all nominees.

The proposed registry should include statements of assets, liabilities and net worth, corporate affiliations, government contract records and family relationship declarations in a machine-readable, open-access format.

NAMFREL said party-list organizations should also disclose funding sources and major donors.

The group further recommended mandatory public hearings before party-list organizations are registered.

It said accredited civil society organizations and citizens should be allowed to present evidence of misrepresentation or ineligibility during those hearings.

NAMFREL also called for election monitoring organizations and similarly accredited bodies to have formal standing to file petitions before the Comelec in party-list proceedings.

“The Bicameral Conference Committee must adopt the highest common denominator across both bills on every disqualification, transparency, and enforcement provision,” NAMFREL said.

“The history of electoral reform in this country is too often a story of strong proposals weakened into ineffectiveness by compromise,” it added. “This time must be different.”

The party-list system is governed by Republic Act No. 7941, which provides for proportional representation in the House of Representatives through registered national, regional and sectoral parties or organizations.

Under the law, party-list representatives constitute 20 percent of the total membership of the House of Representatives, including those elected through the party-list system.

The 1987 Constitution provides that party-list representatives shall come from national, regional and sectoral parties or organizations.

The Supreme Court’s 2013 Atong Paglaum ruling also reshaped party-list participation by allowing national and regional parties or organizations to run even if they do not represent marginalized and underrepresented sectors, while requiring sectoral parties to represent their sectors’ interests.

NAMFREL appealed to Congress to pass a “genuine, comprehensive, and enforceable” reform law before the next election cycle.

“The party-list system belongs to the Filipino people,” it said.

The group also urged the public to pressure their representatives to enact reforms that ensure sectoral votes lead to genuine sectoral representation.

“Demand that your representatives deliver a party-list reform law that actually works—one that ensures a farmer’s vote for a farmers’ organization actually results in a farmer in Congress, not a politician’s spouse or a contractor’s nominee,” NAMFREL said.

NAMFREL said it will continue to monitor the legislation, advocate for its passage and use its citizen oversight platforms and international civil society networks to support party-list reform.