12 years of the Party List System

12 years of the Party List System
Marginalizing People's Participation

Edited by Bobby M. Tuazon
ISBN 978-971-93651-9-8
331 pages

On the Party-List System: The Authors Say -

While we may all agree to the fact that these precious party list seats are given away as tokens up for grabs, the participation of the progressive forces hit sensitive and raw nerves. Rightist elements in the political spectrum prefer that these same genuine representatives of the poor and marginalized confine their advocacies to the streets - or the hinterlands. – Ed Clemente

The party-list landscape has changed and those who want to make it an effective arena for the people's legislative agenda must adjust their legislative and electoral work to this changed condition if they hope to wage a serious battle to preserve and expand the gains of the people in the party-list system. – Neri Javier Colmenares

Elections in and of themselves do not constitute democracy. They are not an end but a step, albeit an important and often essential one, on the path toward the democratization of societies and the realization of the right to take part in the governance of one's country as enunciated in major international human rights instruments. – Leila M. de Lima

The large number of disenfranchised voters is caused by the weaknesses of the seat allocation formulae used since 1998. The main reason is putting up of a limit on the number of seats that a partylist group can win to three seats. – Felix Muga II

If the party-list experiment is to be preserved, we must alert the Filipino to the immense betrayal committed by those who will manipulate this non-traditional system for traditional political goals. – Raul C. Pangalangan, Foreword

The Party-list system is still a work in progress. And all of us are called upon to contribute to the goal of seeing the system improved, enhanced and brought to its maximum potential. – Rene V. Sarmiento

The Party-list system constitutes a struggle whereby those striving to give it flesh and blood through "new politics" must confront the reality of a legislature still in the grip of traditional politics which will remain so far as long as the society that nurtures it remains unchanged. – Bobby M. Tuazon

And all these because marginalization and underrepresentation have been equated with smallness – the smaller one is the suppression of its voice becomes greater. – Cleto R. Villacorta

All the party-list groups should prove themselves worthy of their status as bona fide representatives of marginalized sectors of the population. If they fail in their duties and responsibility, then the skeptics would have been proven right – that our country is not ready for the party-list system and for issue-oriented politics. – Wilfrido V. Villacorta