Ranking party-list lawmakers said Congress can reform the party-list system even without resorting to amending the 1987 Constitution.

This was how Deputy Speaker Bernadette Herrera and committee on constitutional amendments chair Alfredo Garbin Jr defended on Monday, January 11, the renewed push for charter change in the House to amend the economic provisions.

They insisted lawmakers won’t touch political provisions, like clauses on the party-list system and term limits of elected officials.

To comply with President Rodrigo Duterte’s wish to change the party-list system to boot out progressive lawmakers, Garbin said the House can just pass a bill amending Republic Act (RA) No. 7941 or the Party-list System Act instead. 

“If that is sole issue, then the solution lies with the Comelec (Commission on Elections) because under the Republic Act 7941, there is a ground in which party-list can be disqualified and their registration can be cancelled when they support violence or terrorist organizations,” said Garbin, who represents the Ako Bicol party-list group.

Section 6 of RA 7941 states the poll body can cancel the registration of a party-list group if an investigation would show that it “advocates violence or unlawful means to seek its goal.”

Duterte has long accused the Makabayan groups in the House – Bayan Muna, ACT Teachers, Gabriela Women’s Party, and Kabataan –  of supposedly acting as fronts for the Communist Party of the Philippines. But the Makabayan legislators have repeatedly denied this claim. 

Garbin also said party-list legislators – whose House bloc is closely allied to Speaker Lord Allan Velasco – would not pursue amendments in the Constitution that would put their positions at risk.

“I am a party-list lawmaker. So I will not propose something that will lead to our demise… The Speaker’s direction is clear: just amend the restrictive economic provisions, no politics,” said Garbin.

Herrera of Bagong Henerasyon agreed, pointing out that party-list lawmakers have long been filing bills proposing various changes to RA 7941. 

Election watchdog Kontra Daya observed that nearly half of the winners in the last party-list elections were political dynasty scions and influential businesspersons.

“There’s no need to amend the Constitution for that because a mere amendment to the party-list law is actually enough to improve the party-list system,” said the Deputy Speaker in Filipino.

Several members of the House and the Senate are once again pushing to convene into a Constituent Assembly (Con-Ass) to amend the charter.

The House committee on constitutional amendments is set to reopen its Cha-Cha hearings on Wednesday, January 13. 

But other senators already questioned the timing of the proceedings since the country is still dealing with the raging coronavirus pandemic.

Limiting amendments to expedite Cha-Cha

According to Herrera, Speaker Velasco believes dealing with only the economic provisions in the Consitutition would help expedite the Cha-Cha process in the House.

“The Speaker wants to hasten changing the Constitution. If we’re going to include other issues here, then the process may be delayed rather than concentrate on the economic provisions,” said Herrera. 

Velasco is eyeing the conduct of the plebiscite on the proposed amendments to coincide with the upcoming presidential elections in May 2022.

Garbin then hopes senators would keep an open mind regarding Cha-Cha to make the Speaker’s timeline possible.

“For the first time in the 33-year history of our Constitution, we in the House see that economic Cha-Cha can succeed, if only our counterparts in the Senate will keep an open mind on it and agree to consider relevant proposals from us and from their own colleagues,” he said. – Rappler.com