MANILA, Philippines – We’ve attached some ugly names to the Philippine party-list system over time: “bastardized,” “backdoor to Congress” of trapos (short for traditional politicians, but literally meaning dirty rag).
And rightly so. Our system of proportional representation — a model in its original concept (makes you miss the brilliant senator Raul Roco) but weakened, even mangled, by various insertions, interpretations, and loopholes — has been exploited by various interest groups.
One blatant way the system has been abused is this: when applying for accreditation with the poll body, each organization is required to submit the names of 5 nominees. For every 2% of the overall party list votes that an organization garners, it gets a seat in the House of Representatives; every additional 2% means an additional seat — until they reach the 3-seat cap. The order in the nominees list is followed in determining who gets to sit in Congress. When one nominee withdraws or resigns, the seats are occupied by the others on the list.
Guess what many organizations are doing — as soon as they are accredited by the Commission on Elections or win seats, the nominees suddenly withdraw or resign all at once, and here come the trapos or big businessmen or scions of dynasties being named substitute nominees and representatives.
Well, we might see an end to that practice — at least that’s what the Comelec is trying to do for the 2025 elections, as it introduces stricter nomination and substitution rules.
Hear Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia talk about these new rules on Ask Your Comelec with Rappler managing editor Miriam Grace A. Go on Friday, October 4, 2024. – Rappler.com
