MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday pushed for the passage of Senate Bill 2090, which seeks to repeal Republic Act 7941 or the Party-list System Act.
Hontiveros, sponsor of the measure, defended the proposed 50-50 allocation of party-list seats between sectoral organizations and political parties during interpellations with Senate President Pro Tempore Vicente Sotto III.
During the plenary session, Hontiveros said the proposed measure will restore the original intent of the 1987 Constitution by strengthening the party-list system and ensuring proportional representation in the House of Representatives.
"We want to return, in some ways, to the original intent of the Constitution. At the same time, we want to give space to groups that over time have defined themselves in terms of sector or political ideology," she said.
Hontiveros also said the bill sets a cap of 10 seats for qualified political parties to foster genuine policy-based platforms while limiting sectoral parties to three seats to allow a broader diversity of marginalized sectors to secure representation in Congress.
Durung his interpellation, Sotto questioned Section 11 of the proposed measure which reserves 50 percent of party-list seats for national and regional political party-list organizations.
He said this provision opens up the party-list system to abuse and takes the party-list seats away from those who are truly underrepresented.
Sotto also cited reports that say 70 percent of current party-list representatives are contractors.
"Does this provision not dilute the original intention of the framers of the Constitution to give party-list representation to the marginalized sectors?" Sotto said.
Sotto also cautioned against giving additional discretionary powers to the Commission on Elections and suggested that the bill should contain clear-cut guidelines that are not open to interpretation.
"We must legislate a statute that is clear, plain, free from ambiguity, and will be applied without interpretation," he added.
