Comelec seeks addt’l qualifications to ensure party-list nominees come from marginalized sector

Commission on Elections chairperson George Garcia on Monday suggested that a Senate panel put additional qualifications to ensure that party-list nominees are true members of marginalized sectors.

“Ang puwede po nating gawin sa bill maglalagay tayo ng qualification of being nominees. Dadagdagan po natin ang qualification. Hindi naman po siya violation [of the 1987 Constitution] because that’s not [pertaining to the] qualification of members of the House of Representatives but qualifications of nominees of that particular sector or party,” Garcia said during a Senate hearing.

[What we can do with the bill is to put qualification of being nominees. We will put additional qualifications. It is not a violation since that’s not pertaining to the qualification of members of the House of Representatives but qualifications of nominees of that particular sector or party.]

Garcia  made the proposal as the Senate electoral reforms and people’s participation panel tackled two bills seeking to reform the party-list system in the country.

The bills filed by Senate panel chairperson Imee Marcos and Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa seek to ensure that the nominees of the party-list organizations are members of the sector that they want to represent.

According to Garcia, there are no constitutional provisions that will be violated should the law explicitly state that nominees must be members of the marginalized sector.

“As far as the Comelec is concerned, there is no constitutional infirmity or there will be no provision of the Constitution that will be violated,” he said.

Garcia, a former election lawyer, explained that the interpretation of the Supreme Court on the case of Paglaum versus Comelec, which stated that Republic Act 7941 or the Party-List System Act does not require national and regional parties to represent marginalized sectors, was rendered due to the absence of the law.

Another measure that will ensure equal representation of the marginalized sectors is setting a threshold for each sector stated under the 1987 Constitution, Garcia said.

“If only Congress can properly define and classify the marginalized sectors and then kung sakaling ma-accredit [they be accredited], they will be classified [according to] their sector,” he said.

“Halimbawa, kung ilan po ang allocated sa farmers, sa fisherfolk, sa women, sa youth, pagkatapos po kung 10 sila, sila po ang maglalaban-laban sa 10 slots na ‘yon so that at any given time, there will be a representation of each and every sector as mandated by the Constitution,” he added.

[For example, how many slots are allocated for farmers, fisherfolk, women, youth ... then if there would be 10, then they would contest for the 10 slots so that at any given time, there will be a representation of each and every sector as mandated by the Constitution.]

At present, Garcia said there are 182 party-list organizations, including sectoral, national, and regional organizations.

They will delist those who failed to win in the past two elections.

“For the purposes of the 2025 elections, we will be removing at least 54 party-list organizations and political parties because they failed to get two percent in two consecutive elections. So more or less po meron po tayong 130 na party-list na lamang,” he said.

Upon the interpellation of Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, Garcia also told the panel that the provisions on the three-seat allocation for the party-list with highest number of votes received, as well as the 2% of the total number of seats in the House of Representatives for party-list groups, are not in the Constitution which means it can be revised.

“We approach this as a blank stat. Ang feeling natin, we can restart the party-list system by overhauling [Republic Act] 7941. Let us be bold and brave here so that we can do it," Pimentel said. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News