MANILA – On April 15, election watchdog Kontra Daya filed a disqualification case against Vendors Samahan ng mga Maniningang Pilipino (Vendors) Party-list with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) because allegedly, its nominees do not belong to the marginalized groups. 

Vendors Party-list claimed to “represent individuals who are market, street, and sidewalk vendors, as well as those who support and forward the cause of these vendors.” According to the group, they have 651 members who are market vendors, 1,115 members who are street vendors, 7,089 members who are sidewalk vendors, and 445 members who are advocates for the rights and interests of these vendors.

But who are the nominees of the Vendors Party-list and why does Kontra Daya want them to be disqualified? 

Kontra Daya convenor and electoral reform advocate Danilo Arao revealed that Vendors Party-list nominees own businesses and contractors. With this, Kontra Daya asked the Comelec to 1) declare the registration of Vendors Party-list as invalid and cancel its accreditation as a sectoral organization for failure to comply with the requirements under the Party-list System Act or R.A. No. 7941 and the 1987 Constitution, and, 2) disqualify the party-list and its nominees in May 2025 elections. 

Vendors Party-list nominees own businesses, contractors 

In its complaint, Kontra Daya asserted that under Section 3 of the RA 7941, party-list system is defined as a mechanism of proportional representation in the election of representatives to the House of Representatives from national, regional and sectoral parties or organizations or coalitions registered with the Comelec. 

They added that Section 2 of the same law said that the State shall promote proportional representation in the election of representatives to the House of Representatives through a party-list system, which will enable Filipino citizens belonging to marginalized and under-represented sectors, organizations and parties to become members of the House of Representatives.

Kontra Daya also pointed out that the Supreme Court, in the case of Bayan Muna vs Comelec et al, stressed that the intent of the Philippine Constitution is clear: to give genuine power to the people, not only by giving more law to those who have less in life, but more so by enabling them to become veritable lawmakers themselves. Consistent with this intent, the policy of the implementing law, we repeat, is likewise clear: ‘to enable Filipino citizens belonging to marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties, x x x, to become members of the House of Representatives.’ Where the language of the law is clear, it must be applied according to its express terms.”

The top nominees of Vendors Party-list do not belong to the marginalized. Its first nominee Marilou Laurio Lipana is the wife of Mario Gonzales Lipana, who was appointed by then President Rodrigo Duterte as Commissioner of the Commission on Audit (COA). Kontra Daya discovered that Lipana is also the President and General Manager of Olympus Mining and Builders Corporation, and secured millions of projects with the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). She is also the President of the Iron Ore, Gold and Vanadium Resources (Phils) Inc. Kontra Daya said that the government has “entered into an agreement with said corporation for the large-scale exploration, development and commercial utilization of minerals found within the ‘Contract Area’, where Vanadium Resources has obtained the exclusive rights to conduct mining operations for the extraction of magnetite sand.”

Lipana is also the president of Gembar Enterprises, the winning bidder of P9 million and P12 million projects in Makati City in 2020. Kontra Daya said Gembar, as part of a Joint Venture,also secured a P700 million contract with the Department of Interior and Local Government and Bureau of Fire and Protection. Lipana also admitted in a radio-television interview about her businesses and projects with the government. 

Vendors Party-list second nominee and chairman, Florencio A. Pesigan is a former municipal councilor of Talisay, Batangas. According to Kontra Daya, Pesigan was suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman for one year after he was found liable for oppression and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service. Prior to this, the Batangas Provincial Board ordered a 90-day suspension against Pesigan, who was found guilty of conduct unbecoming a public officer. He was also arrested in 2018 due to possession of an unregistered firearm. 

Meanwhile, Vendors Party-list third nominee Sheryl C. Sandil is engaged in the hardware and gasoline business. Her husband is the owner of D.C. Sandil Construction and Realty Development Inc. with road projects in Antipolo City and Palawan. Her husband also owns the  22 Prime Construction & Realty Development. Kontra Daya said either D.C. Sandil Construction or 22 Prime won the bidding of most of the seven projects in Makati City during the 4th quarter of 2024. In said document, Kontra Daya said Olympus Mining, and other persons surnamed Sandil are also contract-awardees.

Emilyn Rabara Garcia, fifth nominee of Vendors Party-list, owns MonMax Enterprises. Kontra Daya also said that Garcia has projects in Quezon City and Makati.

Vendors Party-list as ‘sole’ creation of Marilou Lipana

Kontra Daya also questioned how the Vendors Party-list came up with their list of nominees after Lipana admitted to a radio-television interview that their fourth nominee, Deo Balbuena, also known as Diwata, a vendor, become a member of the party-list after they have already selected their nominees and the Comelec has already approved Vendors Party-list’s  registration.

“Ms. Lipana organized Vendors for her electoral bid and has control in deciding that she and her friends are the top nominees were also admitted by her in that interview,” the complaint of Kontra Daya read. 

The group stressed that the nominees of Vendors was not a result of a democratic process of convention of its members, “but upon the discretion of Ms. Lipana who selected herself and her friends as nominees.” 

Kontra Daya cited Lipana’s interview with broadcast journalist Ted Failon, where she confirmed that there was no voting process in the selection of nominees of the Vendors Party-list. When asked why she is the number one nominee, Lipana said, “Kasi kami po magkakaibigan po kami,” (Because we are friends), pertaining to other nominees of the Vendors Party-list. 

“Ms. Lipana is so powerful in the Vendors that she was able to insert Deo Balvuena, aka Diwata, as its fourth nominee even if, as she admitted, the nominations have been completed and Diwata was not even present in the alleged ‘convention’. That is why when Failon asked her during the interview if Diwata was present during the convention for the selection of nominees, her reply was ‘Wala pa po si Diwata nun,’ (Diwata was not there),” the complaint read. 

“From the admissions of Ms. Lipana herself, she created Vendors, funded it, and selected its nominees naming herself as its first nominee without undergoing any convention in order for the membership to vote or decide. Ms. Lipana even had the power to change the nominees after they were already selected, when she inserted Deo Balbuena or Diwata as its fourth nominee,” it added. 

Kontra Daya asserted that it is clear that Vendors Party-list does not belong to the marginalized and underrepresented “as it was a mere creation of its rich patron, Ms. Lipana and her rich friends” which they said is a violation of the RA 7941. 

Vendors Party-list violated the social justice provision of the Constitution

For Kontra Daya, the entry of the rich and the powerful as well as political dynasties in the party-list system is in direct contravention of the constitutional prohibition against abridging the rights of the people in the Constitution. 

Kontra Daya said, Article 13, Section 16 of the 1987 Constitution states; “The right of the people and their organizations to effective and reasonable participation at all levels of social, political, and economic decision-making shall not be abridged.” 

They asserted that the proliferation of party-list groups organized by the elite, the super-rich, or incumbent officials in Congress and the LGUs and their families, who do not belong, nor represent, the marginalized and underrepresented essentially abridges, curtails, and impedes, the right of the people to an effective and reasonable participation in political decision-making, as many of the marginalized and underrepresented are deprived of a grain of chance in winning against these political and economic juggernauts.”

They added that in the last few years, “the political dynasties and the rich and the powerful began organizing their own partylist groups, which they control, and began fielding themselves or their family members as nominees of these partylist groups as a ‘cheap’ way to get a congressional seat.”

If the Comelec will not act on the domination of the rich and the powerful in the party-list system, Kontra Daya said it is just a matter of time before the party-list system will be completely dominated by the elite and the political dynasties.

In their own research, Kontra Daya has already flagged at least 120 out of 177 party-list groups or 70 percent of party-list candidates for being identified with political clans and big businesses, as well as for having incumbent local officials, connections with the government and military, unknown or unclear advocacies and representations; and pending court cases and criminal charges (including being implicated in pork barrel scams).

Read: More than half of party-lists linked to political dynasties, big businesses and corruption cases

While the SC relaxes its rules on the party-list system in 2013, Kontra Daya asserted that the party-list system is “a social justice tool designed not only to give more in law to the great masses of our people who have less in life, but also to enable them to become veritable lawmakers themselves, empowered to participate directly in the enactment of laws designed to benefit them.”

“It intends to make the marginalized and the underrepresented not merely passive recipients of the State’s benevolence, but active participants in the mainstream of representative democracy,” Kontra Daya said. Thus, they said, allowing all individuals, including those who already dominate district elections, to have the same opportunity to participate in party-list elections would desecrate this lofty objective and mongrelize the social justice mechanism into an atrocious veneer for traditional politics.”

“Crucial to the resolution of this case is the fundamental social justice principle that those who have less in life should have more in law. The party-list system is one such tool intended to benefit those who have less in life. It gives the great masses of our people genuine hope and genuine power. It is a message to the destitute and the prejudiced, and even to those in the underground, that change is possible. It is an invitation for them to come out of their limbo and seize the opportunity.” 

Kontra Daya hopes that the marginalized and underrepresented must be given an expanding opportunity to participate in the country’s party-list system. (RVO)

Disclosure: Danilo Arao is the associate editor of Bulatlat and the chairperson of Board of Trustees of Alipato Media Center, Inc., publisher of Bulatlat.