Consumers Domain
Trapos, PM and the Partylist
"Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of congress; but I repeat myself."
--Mark Twain
The Partylist system has so many flaws. These flaws are being taken advantage of the trapos (traditional politicians). Well, what can we expect from these power hungry wolves who will do everything to get their butts inside the Philippine congress.
The moment these trapos discovered that the Partylist system provides a "cheaper" way to power, they started to field bogus organizations and put themselves or their ilk as its nominees. This in effect makes a mockery of the real essence of the Partylist system, which is to provide representation for marginalized sectors in the legislative body of the country.
Indeed there is a good reason for the call to release the names of the nominees of all Comelec accredited Partylist organizations. In the name of transparency the public needs to know the people and the background of these people. Do they really represent the marginalized sector they claim to represent? Do they have the track record to be the voice of whatever sector they aim and claim to embody? Or a more basic question is – Is the sector they claim to represent can even be considered "marginalized"?
This column admires the efforts of genuine partylist groups to expose these scam organizations particularly those who are funded by the current occupant of Malacañang. Partido ng Manggagawa, the workers party-list, is one group that has been busy in this campaign to rid the partylist election of fake organizations.
To give you more insight into this issue, this column would like to give space to a press release of PM. Please read below.
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Release the names of party-list nominees
The labor party-list group Partido ng Mangggawa today demanded that the Comelec publicly release and open to media scrutiny the list of all nominees of the 93 accredited party-list organizations. "The names of nominees will expose who are the powers-that-be and vested interests behind the party-list groups that are alleged to be fakes and fronts," asserted Gerry Rivera, vice-chair and nominee of the Partido ng Manggagawa.
News reports say that the Comelec law department refused to give the names of nominees to media a day after the deadline for filing of party-list nominees. Rivera claimed, "There is no rule or reason for the Comelec to keep it a secret except to protect the fake party-lists from open condemnation and public pressure. The lists of nominees are public documents and its public scrutiny flows from the logic of the Supreme Court landmark decision on the party-list system."
In the Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Party vs. Comelec case of 2001, the Supreme Court laid down an eight-point guideline to screen the party-list groups and weed out the legitimate from the counterfeit. The sixth and seventh guidelines state: "Sixth, the party must not only comply with the requirements of the law; its nominees must likewise do so... Seventh, not only the candidate party or organization must represent marginalized and underrepresented sectors; so also must its nominees. To repeat, under Section 2 of RA 7941, the nominees must be Filipino citizens 'who belong to marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties.'"
In compliance with Comelec rules and the Supreme Court guidelines, the Partido ng Manggagawa submitted the names of its four nominees on the last day of filing. Rivera is the first nominee and is the union president of the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (PALEA). He led the 1998 PALEA strike against massive layoff and is a petitioner in the Supreme Court case questioning PAL's 10-year moratorium of the collective bargaining agreement. Judy Ann Miranda is the second nominee and is a former student leader from UP Manila who turned her back on a future in medicine to work full-time for the workers movement. Recently she was coordinator of the Justice for Nicole, Justice for the Nation coalition.
Malou Parocco is the third nominee and is the vice-president of the union of the Central Negros Electric Cooperative. A graduate of the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod, she is also the spokesperson of the Labor Power Council in Negros. The fourth nominee is Eliseo Alim who was formerly the union president of the DOLE Philippines box plant in South Cotabato. He was ex-regional head of the National Federation of Labor for Region XII. Two women were chosen as nominees as an affirmative action for gender equality.
"Traditional politicians and Malacanañg stooges are hiding behind innocuous sounding party-list groups that are actually vehicles to sabotage the party-list system. While the workers recognize that the party-list system is just a token concession to marginalized sectors, we will defend the beachhead that we have conquered in the enemy territory that is the elite-dominated Congress," averred Rivera.
The Partido ng Manggagawa has earlier called on for the Comelec to weed out the fake party-list groups that it claims are either "trapo-initiated" or "Malacañang-supported." Rivera explained, "Embedded in the 93 party-list groups that Comelec has accredited are the fakes and fronts. Traditional politicians find it cheaper to win seats in Congress through the party-list rather than at the district level. Instead of spending P50 million or more depending on the district, the trapos find it more cost-effective to win in the part-list for only P15 to 20 million. Malacañang meanwhile is coopting these trapo-initiated groups or establishing new front organizations to elbow out the militant party-lists and pack the House of Representatives with allied solons to prevent a new impeachment complaint."
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