EP 98: Why the PH party-list system is prone to abuse

ANC After The Fact

Earlier today, a former senator caused quite a stir for seeking to represent midwives in next year’s party-list elections.

Online, people were quick to criticize to ridicule lawyer Jose Lina, who’s also a former Laguna Province Governor and Interior Secretary.

“Komadrona ba sya? Nakapagpa-anak na ba sya?”

Lina happens to be the principal author of Philippine Midwifery Act of 1992. But it didn’t placate those who felt that the party-list system was being abused.

Of course, we’ve seen really bad examples in the past — wealthy politicians claiming to represent the marginalized all to secure a seat in Congress.

The rich seeking to represent tricycle drivers, for instance, or security guards and farmers.

Worse, which we saw in recent election cycles, political clans and dynasties expanding their rule by seizing additional seats in congress through the party-list background.

In this episode, we go deep into the problems besetting our party-list system, why it has been so prone to abuse and whether as many have suggested it’s perhaps time, to just abolish it.