Removal of party-list limit backed

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) backed proposals to scrap the limit on party-list seats in the House of Representatives, noting that the cap undermines representation of marginalized groups.

“It is really unfair that we are putting a cap, when the votes of the people matter and should be based on proportional representation,” Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia told a Senate hearing on Monday, in mixed English and Filipino.

The Election chief added that Comelec sees no risks in the removal of the seat limit for party-lists, “to a certain extent it will give more weight to the votes of the electorate.”

Party-lists are limited to three seats in the House of Representatives, with parties receiving at least 2% of the total votes entitled to one seat and an additional seat for every 2% vote cast.

Mr. Garcia said that Comelec is also backing a proposal to implicate party-lists in the disqualification of their nominees.

“If the nominee is disqualified, the party-list should also be implicated, because that means… they allowed someone who is not qualified to run,” he added.

He said that this would allow parties to screen out their potential nominees for potential conflicts of interest.

The Senate Electoral Reforms panel conducted a public hearing on proposed measures to amend the country’s party-list system including the removal of the three-seat limit for party-lists, amid alleged failure to represent marginalized sectors.

The Philippine party-list system was created by the 1987 Constitution, with its framers seeing the system as allowing underrepresented sectors to participate in the lawmaking process. — Adrian H. Halili