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Poll official admits party-list system ‘flawed’


An election official on Tuesday urged the newly-elected sectoral representatives to "fine-tune" the "flawed" party-list system to ensure that the truly marginalized people are represented in the House of Representatives. "There are flaws in the law, which have not been addressed for a long time by party-list organizations and their representatives in Congress," said Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Rene Sarmiento. "Sana ma-review, ma-revisit, and ma-fine-tune (I hope they can review, revisit, and fine-tune them)," he added. Sarmiento made the statement a day after the Comelec proclaimed 28 of the winning party-list organizations in the May 10 automated elections. He said the newly-elected party-list representatives should focus on amending Republic Act 7941 or the Party-list System Act so it could be made clear who really are the marginalized and the underrepresented. He specifically cited the party-list groups who supposedly represent people from different regions in the Philippines. “Can they not be represented by their district congressmen?" he said. The Party-list System Act defines the party-list system as “a mechanism of proportional representation" in the election of representatives to House of Representatives from those “belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations, and parties." Who can really be nominees? Sarmiento said there is also a need to determine who can become the nominees of the marginalized sectors. “Does the law refer to the one who is truly marginalized? Is an advocate enough to represent (them)? These are issues (that have) to be resolved by the Congress of the Philippines," he said. The law sets the following qualifications for party-list nominees: - They must be natural born citizens of the Philippines - They must be registered voters - They must be residents of the Philippines for at least one year - They must be able to read and write - They must be bona fide members of the party which they seek to represent for at least 90 days before the elections - They must be at least twenty-five years old on the day of the election The law also states that if a nominee is from the youth sector, he must be at least 25 years old but not more than thirty 30 years of age on the day of the election. Temporary remedy The Comelec recently issued Resolution 8807, which requires party-list nominees to “belong" to the marginalized and underrepresented sector, sectoral party, organization, political party, or coalition they seek to represent. The resolution says that the party-list group and its nominees are required to submit documentary evidence to prove that the nominees “truly belong" to the marginalized and underrepresneted sector. It also says that the nominee must submit a track record of participation in projects advancing the interests of the sector, proof that the nominees are advocates of the sector (declarations, speeches, written articles), and certification that the nominees have been members of the organization 90 days prior to election day. “The resolution was issued in an effort to address this lapse in the law," Sarmiento said. Controversial nominees Several nominees of winning party-list would not actually be immediately allowed to take their congressional seats because of these rules. These include Ang Galing Pinoy first nominee Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel “ose Miguel Arroyo and 1-Utak's first nominee former Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, both of whom are accused of not being a member of the sector they seek to represent. AGP claims to represent security guards and tricycle drivers while 1-UTAK claims to represent drivers and operators of public utility vehicles. Sarmiento said the power to change the party-list system is in the hands of Congress. "A party-list law is a congressional act... We are implementors of the law. We need Congress to work with us to address these flaws in the law." He likewise clarified that he does not want to scrap the party-list law, only refine parts of it. “Talaga namang magandang may boses din yung maliliit (It's good to give voice to the marginalized)... the only vehicle is party-list (system)," he said - KBK/GMANews.TV

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