Over half of party-list groups do not represent marginalized – watchdog

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MANILA, Philippines – Over half of the 156 party-list groups participating in the 2025 elections do not represent the marginalized, election watchdog Kontra Daya found in a new study.

Releasing its findings on Wednesday, February 12, Kontra Daya said 55.13% of those running, or 86 party-list groups, do not represent the marginalized and underrepresented. Many, instead, are linked to political clans and big businesses.

Kontra Daya flagged seven party-list groups leading in the December 2024 and January 2025 Social Weather Stations surveys as being linked to political clans, big businesses, or the police and military: 4PS, ACT-CIS, Duterte Youth, Ako Bicol, FPJ Panday Bayanihan, Tingog Sinirangan, and TGP.

“Political dynasties appear to dominate 4PS (Abalos), ACT-CIS (Tulfo and Yap), FPJ [Panday Bayanihan] (Poe Llamanzares with Dolor and Paton families) and Tingog Sinirangan (Romualdez). Big business interests are apparent in Ako Bicol (Sunwest) and TGP (Teravera; contractor of DPWH projects). Duterte Youth has military connections which explains its track record for red-tagging,” the watchdog said.

The party-list system finds its origins in the 1987 Constitution and Republic Act No. 7941. While the law provides that the system serves as a platform for marginalized sectors, framers of the Constitution also gave smaller parties in districts a chance at seats in proportion to their constituencies.

But the lenience in the law allowed dynasties to exploit it. According to University of the Philippines political science professor Crisline Torres-Pilapil, dynastic families became more brazen in participating in the party-list races after the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that national and regional parties or organizations “do not need to organize along sectoral lines and do not need to represent ‘any marginalized and underrepresented’ sector” to join the race.

Courtesy of Kontra Daya

Kontra Daya particularly emphasized Tingog Sinirangan needing close scrutiny because of its links to the Romualdez clan, of which the present House Speaker and presidential cousin is part.

The Tulfo family’s links to ACT-CIS also implies that if elected, the clan will be able to take up seats in both chambers of Congress.

The watchdog also flagged party-list groups having nominees connected to corruption cases, having “dubious advocacies,” or not providing enough information on the forms submitted to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

“They did not provide specific details on the nature of their work, preferring to give only general details. It is also possible for members of political clans (including incumbent party-list representatives) to be listed not in the top three nominees but in the bottom numbers,” they said, adding that voters should scrutinize all 10 nominees and not just the top three.

‘Proven advocacy’ sometimes abused

Responding to Kontra Daya’s report on Wednesday, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said that the lack of an anti-dynasty law prevents the Comelec from regulating party-list groups that have links to dynasties.

“Ako, against ako sa political dynasty. Kaya lang at this point…ayaw ng Saligang Batas ng mamamayan ng political dynasty pero kailangan ang Kongreso ay magkaroon ng batas. So ‘yun po, hindi natin maipapatupad kahit na anong kagustuhan natin patungkol sa anti-political dynasty,” said Garcia.

(I am personally against political dynasties. It’s just that at this point…the Constitution prohibits political dynasties but Congress has to come out with a law. So we cannot enforce anti-political dynasty rules as much as we want to.)

The Comelec pointed to jurisprudence from the Supreme Court that said only at least half of the 10 nominees should belong to the sector the group represents, while the others need not be part of the sector itself, as long as they have a “proven advocacy” for it.

This means that, based on current laws and jurisprudence, even a man can be a nominee of a party-list group representing women’s rights for instance, as long as he shares that advocacy.

“This is the pathway some use to acquire power and get elected to Congress — the issue that they only need a proven advocacy in the sector that they purport to represent,” said Garcia in a mix of English and Filipino.

Garcia also said that when groups apply for accreditation, the 10 nominees are usually still unknown. The officers listed on the accreditation form are not necessarily those who will be nominated later on.

There is also a period of time when the public may file for a petition to cancel the accreditation of a group. However, even after publishing the accredited groups and the names of the nominees, Garcia said that the Comelec did not receive any petition for disaccreditation.

Garcia also gave context to the numbers, saying that the Comelec only newly accredited 42 of the 156 this election. Some 113 were existing party-list groups, and one secured a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court.

The Comelec chairman said it welcomed questioning from the Supreme Court if it meant having jurisprudence to clarify “confusing” matters like political dynasties in the party-list system.

“Sa bandang huli po, sa mga mamamayan na lang po tayo umaasa na sila’y boboto nang tama base sa kung sino talaga ang nagre-representa ng sektor na kinabibilangan po nila. Kung sa kanilang palagay, ‘yung mismo nagre-representa sa mga kababaihan, sa mga nakatatanda, sa mga may kapansanan, sa urban poor na tinatawag, ay sadya namang hindi naman pala talaga parte ng urban poor, eh bakit natin iboboto?” said Garcia.

(At the end of the day, we depend on citizens to vote wisely based on who truly represents the sectors they are a part of. If, in their opinion, these representatives of women, elderly, persons with disabilities, or urban poor are not actually part of the sector, then why should we vote for them?)

Kontra Daya’s party-list database, which contains the flagged parties and notes on each of the nominees, can be accessed here. – Rappler.com