Comelec seeks 'complete overhaul' of Party-list Law

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday called for a “complete overhaul” of the Party-list Law to address and reflect present issues. 

“Sa halip na amendment, maganda kung complete overhaul. Revision. Upang mareflect natin ang mga naging decision ng Korte Suprema, upang ‘yung concern ng iba lalo na sa issue ng marginalized, underrepresented, proportionality ay mareflect din,” Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia told reporters on the sidelines of the raffling of numbers for party-list groups for their order in the official ballot for the 2025 May elections. 

(Instead of an amendment, a complete overhaul would be better. A revision. So that we can reflect the Supreme Court's decisions, and so that the concerns of others, especially on the issue of marginalized, underrepresented, and proportionality, are also reflected.)

According to Garcia, it is “about time” to re-examine and revise Republic Act (RA) No. 7941, which sets the provisions for the party-list system in the country. 

“Sa atin pong palagay, nararapat at napapanahon na para magkaroon ng re-examination, magkaroon ng pag-aaral, pagbabago sa RA 7941. Nasisisi ang Komisyon kung paano kami naga-accredit…kung paano namin kino-consider ang bawat isa na nominee samantalang nakalagay sa ating batas na kinakailangan may mag-file ng isang petition upang ikwestyon ang isang nominee,” he said. 

(In our view, it's about time to have a re-examination, conduct a study, and make changes to RA 7941. The Commission is being blamed for how we accredit or consider each nominee, but our law states that a petition is required to question a nominee.)

“Hindi kami ppwede na mag-motu prioprio cancel ng isang party-list organization o mag-mag-motu prioprio cancel ng CONA ng bawat isa,” said Garcia.

(We cannot motu proprio cancel a party-list organization or its certificate of nomination and acceptance.)

The poll chief added: “Sana masimulan man lang ‘yung pagreview, pagbabago dito sa Party-list system (We hope the review and revision of the Party-list system would commence soon). The Comelec can only work within the bounds of the law. We cannot work outside the law. Otherwise that would be legislation”.

A total of 156 party-lists were included in the first-ever electronic raffle of numbers to determine their order of listing in the official ballots for the 2025 national and local elections (NLE).

Garcia explained this developed after the Comelec removed at least 30 unaccredited party-lists from the 190 groups that filed their Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance (CONAs) earlier this month. Of the remaining 160 party-lists, four failed to submit their CONAs. 

At least 42 new party-lists were accredited under the present Comelec leadership, the lowest in recent years, he added. 

Meanwhile, Garcia said disqualified party-list groups which will secure a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Comelec from the Supreme Court (SC) will still be included in the official ballot. However, the poll body will not repeat the raffling of the numbers. 

“Ang pwede naming gawin ‘yung mismong makakakuha ng TRO…ilalagay namin sa kahulihan ang mga pangalan nila. Kung meron namang partido o sectoral organizations na ayaw na mag-participate…pwede namin tanggalin ang numero na ‘yun,” he said. 

(We can include the names of those who will get a TRO at the end of the list. If, on the other hand, there are political parties or sectoral organizations that no longer wish to participate, we can simply remove their numbers.)

“Sa magkakalaban, ilang grupo sa party-list, ang lista nila sa balota ay isa lang din. Dahil isa lang din, walang problema. Kung sakaling manalo ang party-list, kinakailangan i-resolve namin kung sino sa grupo ang iproklama. Usually, ang ginagawa natin di muna natin pino-proklama,” he added. 

(For party-lists with factions, they will be put in one entry. Since they are still considered as one group, there's no issue to be concerned about. However, in the event that the party-list group wins, we'll need to resolve which faction to proclaim as winner. Typically, what we do is withhold their proclamation.)

In April, Garcia said Congress should amend the Party-list Law as soon as possible to prevent political families and power brokers from abusing the law’s loopholes and easing out genuine representatives of the marginalized sector.—AOL, GMA Integrated News