SENATE minority leader Vicente Sotto III has filed Senate Bill No. 192, which seeks to restore the representation of the marginalized sector in the party-list system.
Sotto said the bill intends to realign the party-list system with its original intent under the 1987 Constitution, since the interpretation of RA 7941 or the Party-List System Act, has been expanded and has deviated from truly representing the marginalized sector and the underrepresented.
“The party-list system has been abused and used as a vehicle to pursue advocacies that are not in the best interest of the government,” he added.
The measure has outlined additional grounds for the cancellation of registration of party-list groups, including failure to represent the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, instances where members or nominees do not belong to these sectors, direct or indirect participation in acts detrimental to the best interest of the government, ceasing to marginalized sector and material misrepresentation of nominees.
He said the deviation from the true mandate of the system has instead created more inequality, the very evil that the framers of the Constitution sought to prevent.
“Amid the many issues hounding government officials, it is high time to revisit the true purpose of the party-list system, whether these groups are genuinely representing the marginalized or merely hiding behind the guise of doing so for personal or political gains,” he said.
If passed, Sotto said the measure will strengthen the integrity of the party-list system, ensuring that it fulfills its intended purpose to uplift the voices of the marginalized and underrepresented sectors of society.
