The traditional politics of some party-list groups

By Center for People Empowerment and Governance (CenPEG)

MANILA — The 14th Congress, which opened last July 23, will be no different from previous congresses: It remains a bastion of conservative politics, and its performance in terms of enacting significant bills is expected to be as dismal as the 13th Congress.(1)

As far as the Party list system is concerned, the recent fraudulent elections retained and brought in groups with parochial and traditional interests giving a limited elbow room for marginal sector-based party lists to play. As a whole, the number of Party list representatives in the new Congress – 23(2) – again falls short of the constitutionally-enshrined objective of ensuring the marginal sectors’ representation in the House of Representatives. It is just 9.5 percent compared to the 20 percent of seats allowed in the lower chamber, which has been the case since Party list elections began in 1998.

As a whole, only 17 of the 93 Party list groups accredited in the May 14 elections were able to garner seats for a three-year term in the House based on the Panganiban formula.(3)

According to reports, only about six of the qualified 17 Party list groups can be said to represent marginal groups, based on constitutional requirements: BM, Akbayan, GWP, Batas, Anakpawis, and Anak Mindanao. The rest are affiliated either with well-funded religious-political groups, traditional political parties, or medium-scale business enterprises; they also own TV networks and programs. Some of the latter made it to Congress through alleged fraud, government connections, and aggressive TV publicity in the last elections. At least four of their nominees, namely, Ernesto Pablo and Edgar Valdez of Apec, Rene Velarde of Buhay, and Guillermo Cua of Coop-Natcco are ranked as millionaires in the 13th House.

Still not represented

These Party-list groups made it to the House at the expense of others that take their roots in the parliament of the streets and ran in previous elections to represent marginal sectors. These include Sanlakas, Partido ng Manggagawa, and a few others. While significant marginal classes and sectors, such as labor, peasant, and women have their representation retained in the law-making body, through the likes of Anakpawis and Gabriela, many other sectors remain unrepresented. Among these are the overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), seafarers, youth-students, indigenous peoples, and significant Muslim communities aspiring for self-determination and ancestral domain.

The following Party list groups revealed their true political color by taking their oath of office before President Gloria M. Arroyo after being proclaimed as election winners: Apec, Abono, ARC, A Teacher, Buhay, Butil, and Coop-Natcco. At least three of these, Apec, Butil, and Coop-Natcco, joined House Speaker Jose de Venecia’s coalition in the May elections. Including them, the rest of the groups backed De Venecia’s bid for the speakership.

A Teacher party list claims to represent the country’s low-paid educators. However, its nominee, Mariano U. Piamonte, Jr., is the executive director of the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines (CEAP) which claims to have 1,194 Catholic member-schools all over the country. CEAP, which is connected with the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), groups the owners, incorporators, and administrators of these schools.
Alagad is the electoral wing of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), a religious-political group with an influential voting bloc that has been courted by presidential and senatorial aspirants for decades. Although Alagad supported Arroyo in 2004, its nominee, Bro. Rodante Marcoleta, voted for her impeachment in 2005. INC, on the other hand, operates big churches and schools all over the Philippines – as well as in the U.S. and elsewhere.

El Shaddai

Another religious-political group, Buhay, is the electoral wing of charismatic group El Shaddai. Among other enterprises, El Shaddai head Bro. Mike Velarde owns and chairs the Amvel Land Development Corporation, a 3,000-unit residential village in Parañaque City.(4) Mike Velarde, whose son Rene is the party list group’s third nominee, also serves as a “spiritual adviser” of the President.

Some 151 credit cooperatives are affiliated with Natcco whose electoral party, Coop-Natcco, is again represented in the new Congress by Cua, a millionaire. Natcco is a direct agent of Western Union Transfer Money, a leading bank for overseas remittances, through the DA5 Consortium of which it is a member.(5)

Like Coop-Natcco, Apec is an association of electric power cooperatives. One of these, Quezon Electric Cooperative, has Ernesto Pablo as general manager. Considered a millionaire in the 13th Congress, Pablo’s net worth increased by 200 percent while serving his term.(6) By backing De Venecia for House speaker, Pablo now chairs the House committee on cooperative development.(7)

Agap is an association of 52 hog and poultry corporations, mostly farm owners, feed millers, veterinary drug manufacturers, and truckers. It lobbies with government’s agriculture department, finance department, customs, and tariff commission. Agap advocates against the smuggling of farm commodities and the excessive importation of meat and poultry products.
The religious-political, traditional, and parochial affiliations that crown these Party-list groups in the House tend – through a convergence of interests - to reinforce the conservative politics that lords over this chamber. Indeed, 75 percent(8) of the total number of district representatives of the House, or 164 out of 237, comes from the country’s oligarchic clans. Of the total, 91 are with De Venecia’s Lakas-CMD making it the dominant traditional political party. The other members are with Kampi (Mrs. Arroyo’s own party, 41 seats); NPC of Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr. (28); Liberal Party (23); Nacionalista Party (10); LDP (4); PDP-Laban (4); and the rest with other minority parties.