Under the few democratizing reforms enshrined in the 1987 Constitution, Republic Act 7941 or the “Party-List Law,” should promote democratic and proportional representation of under-represented community sectors such as labor, peasant, women, indigenous, and other marginalized groups.
What was meant to be a means to represent the pleas and the plight of the ordinary Filipino has been abused time and time again by political dynasties deeply embedded in our political structure.
Last March, election and anti-fraud watchdog Kontra Daya released a statement that their case study found out that seven out of 10 party-list groups gunning for seats in the 19th Congress are hijacked by political clans, big businesses, and state interests.
“Around 70 percent of party-list groups are being used as a backdoor to further entrench their political and economic interest,” stated Kontra Daya in a Facebook post.
Red-tagging as a Machiavellian offensive
Recently, on April 5, Ramon Tulfo, brother of senatorial aspirant Raffy Tulfo and Turismo Isulong Mo nominee Wanda Tulfo-Teo, released an opinion article entitled ‘Abusing the Party-List Law,’ where he questions the motives of other party-lists including the progressive GABRIELA party-list.
The red-tagging of women’s rights group GABRIELA is nothing new. Not when the president himself is the number one promoter of redtagging. In his article, Tulfo argues that GABRIELA is left-leaning and as Duterte and his NTF-ELCAC describe it, is one of the political fronts of the New People’s Army (NPA).
“The organization being left-leaning does not make them illegal,” Tulfo wrote. “What is illegal is if a portion of its Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), otherwise known as pork barrel, goes to buy guns and ammunition for the NPA.”
But this is simply untrue, false, and malicious. All speculation, no hard facts presented.
“And if military intelligence can’t back up such allegations, then it should keep quiet.” He added after his absurd allegations against GABRIELA. But the said party-list and other Makabayan bloc and other anti-Duterte parties have never been members of the communist rebels.
For the sake of argument, let’s say they do. But the Constitution, which these supposed party-list representatives of the powers that be, deprive those who resort to armed struggle, the real marginalized, political spaces in which they could effectively resolve the roots of their marginalization and oppression and regenerate a new brand of politics beyond the patron-client.
But as long as the Philippine state is controlled by the landlords, compradors, and bureaucrats, politics under-representation within formal state institutions will remain. Bourgeois political parties are nothing but vehicles of class interest, despite differences in names. The expansion of politics to non-state actors is a reality born out of the rotten politics that exists in our country.
Tulfo is a hypocrite in criticizing a genuine party-list when the party-list system has become their family enterprise: Raffy Tulfo as senator, his wife Jocelyn as ACT-CIS nominee, and their sister Wanda Tulfo-Teo as Turismo nominee while their corruption issues still unresolved.
The ACT-CIS Partylist, or the Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support Partylist topped the 2019 partylist elections. For an anti-crime party, isn’t it ironic that the group’s first nominee Edvic G. Yap and incumbent representative Rep. Eric Yap were both mentioned in the web of corruption in the Bureau of Customs under Nicanor Faeldon’s leadership in 2017?
Adding to that irony is what looks like a family business. Besides Jocelyn Tulfo, the group’s fourth nominee is Erwin Tulfo, brother of former tourism secretary Wanda Teo, who was known for resigning in the midst of involvement in the P60M questionable payment for ad placements on brothers Erwin and Ben’s show in state-controlled People’s Television (PTV-4).
What exactly is the under-represented or marginalized sector that ACT-CIS wants to represent? Fascists, possibly.
An impostor among us
Meanwhile, brandishing the alleged representation of women, Mothers for Change (MOCHA) aims to represent single mothers. But their first and second nominees Esther Margaux “Mocha” Uson and Michele Gumabao are not single mothers. More than that, both women have been involved in state-backed propaganda, especially as MOCHA is sponsored by the NTF-ELCAC.
Alongside MOCHA is Abante Sambayanan which supposedly aims to represent former communist rebels. Its first nominee, Jeffrey “Ka Eric” Celiz, is an agent of the NTF-ELCAC and proven to be not an ex-communist rebel. Members of the NPA themselves have denied knowing Celiz and called him a “paid hack” by the NTF-ELCAC.
Just like Tulfo’s ACT-CIS partylist, both partylists backed by the NTF-ELCAC’s claimed representation of such sectors are heavily scrutinized and have been debunked as false .
Yet, Tulfo pressed on, “From where I sit, the most useless and hypocritical party-list group is Gabriela, whose purported mission is ‘to advocate women’s issues and represent Filipino women in the House of Representatives’,” in an attempt to discredit GABRIELA.
He stated that the group, which is usually dormant, becomes ‘vociferous’ when domestic violence incidents are reported. But when news of this incident dies down, so will they.
But unlike Gabriela and others who are working whether in power or not, the majority of party-lists hijacked by the powers that be will only be heard during elections. Especially now that party-lists are also being used to prop up the campaign of the vicious Marcos-Duterte tandem–whose legacy has been to make the lives of the marginalized poorer and insecure.
An example of a genuine party
Founded in 1984, and garnered a seat in Congress in 2003, GABRIELA has been consistent in passing resolutions aimed at empowering and addressing the issues faced by women. Moreover, GABRIELA leads campaigns combating violence against women and children in many forms until today. Their most recent victory is increasing the age of statutory rape to 16.
READ: tinyurl.com/GABRIELALumabanMakibaka
The Purple Rose Campaign Against Sex Trafficking of Filipino Women and Children was launched by the group in 1999. Through this campaign, venues raising awareness and opposition against the use of sex trade and forced labor were created. One of the many victories of this campaign is the passage of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003. The co-sponsor is Liza Maza, GABRIELA Women’s Party-list representative.
More than that, the Anti-violence against Women and Children Act of 2004 was founded by GABRIELA and was passed as a result of persistent mass campaigns. The group has also helped file numerous cases for victims of sexual harassment and abuse.
The group also advocated for the amendment of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Law to achieve progressiveness and further inclusivity. Member organizations of GABRIELA such as the GABRIELA Network of Professionals and GABRIELA-Youth have an ongoing campaign against sexual harassment in workplaces and schools.
Additionally, together with other legislators, GABRIELA representatives in Congress push for a Comprehensive National Policy on Reproductive Health to attain better maternal care services.
The VOW vs VAW (Voices of Women vs Violence Against Women) in 2022 and Blow-a-Whistle Campaign in 2003 are also among the things that GABRIELA was known for.
To date, GABRIELA continues to push for the legalization of divorce.
“But to accuse Gabriela Women’s Party of merely “riding on another popular issue while ignoring the plight of other women in distress” would be irresponsible, baseless and malicious. Needless to say, it is an abuse of the privilege accorded to columnists like Tulfo.” stated Luzviminda C. Ilagan, then GABRIELA representative, in 2013 as a response to the incident Tulfo mentioned in his piece.
Alongside GABRIELA under the Makabayan Bloc are party lists campaigning for electoral reforms to remove political dynasties and ensure democratic participation.
The coalition is composed of Kabataan Party List to represent the youth, ACT-Teachers Party List to represent teachers and those who work in the education sector, and Anakpawis Party List representing workers, peasants, fisherfolk, national minorities, and the urban and rural poor.
Kabataan, which has been at the frontlines of NTF-ELCAC’s redtagging has truly advocated for the youth’s interest unlike the bogus Duterte “Youth” party-list. Kabataan recently filed legislations to allow the safe schools reopening after two years and doling out P10,000 cash aid to students amid the pandemic. True to its moto, Kabataan is the “pag-asa ng bayan.”
For the upcoming May elections, 270 party-list groups applied to participate but 93 were rejected. The supposed 165 groups became 177 after 12 rejected party-list groups secured a restraining order from the Supreme Court, forcing COMELEC to include them in the ballots.
READ: tinyurl.com/KontraDayaFakePartylist
With the looming threat of useless party-lists winning seats in Congress, we are faced with a serious problem. How will those who truly and genuinely need to be heard, be represented if they are overpowered by those who aren’t even genuine party-lists?
The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) should be held accountable for allowing groups with questionable backgrounds and involvement to hijack the party-list system, effectively depriving the other sectors to represent themselves. Beyond the formal institutionalism, the marginalization of the oppressed in politics necessitates a rethinking of the forms of politics that has been running the country. Is it really a democracy if the government is run by a few?
Let this be a wake-up call for us, especially with the height of the elections, that voting for the right party list is essential in our progress as a country. We should be critical when it comes to choosing which party list to vote for the same way that we are when choosing our presidential, vice presidential, and senatorial candidates. Choose who best represents us.
Genuine party lists must represent and support the calls of the marginalized sectors and the masses, and not the interests of power-hungry, corrupt, and opportunistic people.
Featured image courtesy of Cheryl Ravelo
