POLL watchdog Kontra Daya yesterday flagged 86 party-list organizations after being found to have links with political clans, big businesses, or the police and military.
In a statement, Kontra Daya said its research and monitoring activities found 86 party-list groups with questionable.
“Given that there are 155 party-list groups participating in the 2025 polls, it appears that 55 percent of those running do not represent the marginalized and underrepresented,” Kontra Daya said.
It said that 40 party-list groups are linked to political dynasties, 25 with big businesses, and 18 with police or military connections.
It also identified 11 party-list organizations with dubious advocacy, seven with nominees linked to corruption cases, and nine with not enough information.
Among those flagged by Kontra Daya are seven party-list organizations leading in poll surveys, namely 4PS, ACT-CIS, Duterte Youth, Ako Bicol, FPJ Bantay Bayanihan, Tingog Sinirangan, and TGP.
“Political dynasties appear to dominate 4PS (Rep. Jonathan Clement Abalos, nephew of former DILG secretary Benhur Abalos Jr.), ACT-CIS (Reps. Erwin Tulfo and Edvic Yap), FPJ Bantay Bayanihan (Brian Poe Llamanzares, son of Sen. Grace Poe), and Tingog Sinirangan (Rep. Yedda Romualdez, wife of Speaker Martin Romualdez),” said Kontra Daya.
“Big business interests are apparent in Ako Bicol (Sunwest) and TGP (Teravera, contractor of DPWH projects); while Duterte Youth has military connections, which explains its track record for red-tagging,” it also said.
In a phone interview, Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao said the number of flagged groups are lower than in the last national and local polls.
“The situation remains unacceptable. For Kontra Daya, we only judge it as a quantitative change, but the qualitative conditions remain,” said Arao.
Sought for reaction to the Kontra Daya study, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said they don’t have a choice but to accredit the questioned party-list groups since they are qualified under the law.
“As long as the law and existing jurisprudence are lenient, they will be used by the powerful and rich to become members of Congress,” Comelec chairman George Garcia said in an interview.
He then urged the voters to use the Kontra Daya research in choosing the right party-list organization.
“In the end, we will rely on the people for them to vote the right sectoral representatives. If they believe these groups don’t represent the women, elderly, persons with disability, urban poor, then why vote for them?” he said.
