Groups picket SC over ruling on party-list groups

MANILA, Philippines - Several militant party-list groups trooped to the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday to protest the ruling on the party-list system.

Members of Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Piston, Kabataan, Kilusang Mayo Uno and National Union of Students of the Philippines joined the rally.

Gabriela party-list Rep. Luz Ilagan said the high court ruling, which opened the party-list system to groups not belonging to “marginalized and underrepresented sectors,” allows traditional politicians, landed families and business groups to control Congress.

“It further opens the floodgates for the abuse and mockery of the party-list law,” Ilagan said.

“The party-list law was created as an equalizer to help ensure that 20 percent of the members of the House of Representatives must come from marginalized and under-represented sectors, organizations and parties,” she said.

Former elections commissioner and member of the constitutional commission (ConCom) that drafted the 1987 Constitution Rene Sarmiento said the Philippine party-list system followed the European model, which allowed the participation of political parties.

“But in the course of discussion in the ConCom, we decided to put a Philippine flavor to it. That’s when the marginalized and underrepresented came in,” Sarmiento said.

In the summary of decision released by the SC last Friday, the high court cited ConCom records showing that framers of the 1987 Constitution did not intend to limit the party-list system to sectoral representation.

The SC cited the 19-22 vote of the commission against a proposal to set the party-list system exclusively to sectoral parties or reserve permanent seats for them in the House of Representatives.

‘Only 52 groups may benefit from ruling’

Also yesterday, SC spokesman Theodore Te clarified that the new parameters apply only to the 52 groups earlier disqualified by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

While it ruled that the Comelec was correct in disqualifying these groups based on old guidelines, the court also remanded the cases to the poll body for reconsideration based on the new parameters.

But election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said disqualified groups may take advantage of the ruling.

“Technically, they may ask the Comelec to review their cases because the new guidelines are not as hard as the old abandoned guidelines. But the Comelec could say they are not covered by the SC decision,” Macalintal said.

Macalintal said the SC ruling “totally abandoned the clarion call of former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban” in his 2001 decision in the case of Bagong Bayani to prevent the “desecration of the party-list system by not allowing representation by the superrich and the overrepresented.”

“With said decision, it now appears that participation in the party-list system may even be open to special interest clubs, comparable to those we have in campuses,” he lamented.

No party-list elections

Macalintal also issued a warning  on the suspension of the party-list elections following the SC decision.

He said the high court ruling technically rendered all party-list groups “unqualified” to participate in the May 13 elections.

Macalintal said all existing party-list groups, including those accredited by the Comelec, have to undergo the same summary evidentiary hearing to determine their qualifications under the new parameters prescribed by the high tribunal.

“Pending such determination, it may necessitate the postponement of the election for party-list until such time that the Comelec has determined who among the party-list groups are qualified to register,” Macalintal said.

Macalintal said the high tribunal virtually abandoned the old guidelines under which the applications for registration of the “qualified” party-list groups were approved.

Contrary to the new guidelines, Macalintal said the party-list system is a social justice tool to give more law to those who have less in life and enable them to become veritable lawmakers themselves.

“What will now prevent large companies, such as oil firms, from banding together to form their own party-list organization in order to advance their own commercial interests,” Macalintal asked.

SC backtracks on no more appeals

Meanwhile, Te said yesterday the Comelec might still file an appeal despite the “immediately executory” clause in the ruling.

“A motion for reconsideration could still be filed but until it is granted, a decision that is declared to be ‘immediately executory’ precisely takes effect at once and remains in effect, until the Court says otherwise,” he said.

Te denied issuing the earlier statement to The STAR, adding he was “instructed to ask that the item be immediately corrected and that an explanation be provided.”

The STAR had interviewed Te by phone.

In the new six-point parameters, the SC removed the previous requirement of the Comelec for groups joining the party-list election to belong to a marginalized or underrepresented sector, which was based on the SC’s ruling in the Ang Bagong Bayani case in June 2001.

“To require all national and regional parties under the party-list system to represent the marginalized and underrepresented is to deprive and exclude, by judicial fiat, ideology-based and cause-oriented parties from the party-list system,” the ruling read.

The court allowed political parties to join the party-list election “provided they register under the party-list system and do not field candidates in legislative district elections.”

For sectoral parties, a majority of their nominees should belong to the sectors they represent.

Malacañang mum

Malacañang officials refused to comment on the SC decision, saying they have not read it yet.

“We haven’t seen the decision but I understand that there are several novel issues discussed in it,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a text message to The STAR.

“We’d like to read the text first and discuss it with the President,” Valte added.

As this developed, 12 party-list organizations asked the Comelec to defend before the high court its decision to disqualify 54 groups.

At a press conference, the party-list groups that banded under the Makabayan coalition also asked the SC to reconsider its “highly unpopular decision.”

The groups are Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Kabataan, Piston, Akap Bata, Kalikasan, Courage, Gabriela, ACT Teachers, Migrante, Katribu, and Aking Bikolnon.

“We call on the Comelec to defend its decision in disqualifying these fake party-list groups and demand reconsideration from SC. We urge the people to protest against this attempt by the rich and the powerful to deprive them of the opportunity to have a genuine voice and representation in Congress,” they said.

They said the SC ruling “only exacerbates the elitist and oligarchic control of our political system and allows the rich to further dominate the already measly 20 percent of the seats in Congress allotted to the party-list system in the guise of political pluralism.”

“SC has now openly invited the likes of Rep. Mikey Arroyo to pass through the front door  without the hassle of pretending to be poor and pro-poor,” they claimed. Arroyo is the representative of Ang Galing Pinoy, a party-list group of security guards and public utility drivers.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the Comelec is bound to apply the SC’s interpretation of the law, adding that the commission will decide whether to file a motion for reconsideration.

Jimenez said the Comelec will have to work double time to implement SC’s new guidelines.

“Considering the length of time we have or do not have, it’s possible that we will see back-to-back hearings, daily marathon hearings, which we already did in the past. Just looking at the time, we might not make it on time but we cannot discount the ability of the en banc… they can do several things in order to hasten the proceedings,” he said.

Encroachment

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio said the SC ruling “encroached into the power of the direct representatives of the people, especially the marginalized masses.”

“Representation and membership in a marginalized sector are set by the Constitution and law, and it is beyond the SC’s limits to change, much less remove them,” Tinio said.

“The party-list system is a tool which gives some measure of an equalizer in Congress for the poor and underrepresented,” the lawmaker said.

“The ruling effectively erases this equalizer and reinvents the system as a free-for-all for the rich and powerful to fully exploit, without anymore bothering to feign representation of the people they oppress,” he added.

Tinio warned the people will hold the justices accountable for giving the economic and political elite “express permission” to use the machinery of government to further push the poor and underrepresented into the margins. – With Paolo Romero, Mayen Jaymalin, Sheila Crisostomo, Alexis Romero, Ding Cervantes, Danny Dangcalan