The Party-List Election: Looking Back and Forward

The Party-List Election: Looking Back and Forward

We believe that both the rising political consciousness of an increasing number of the people and the organizational strength and political clout so far developed by the progressive forces can turn the party-list system to the advantage of the people. In turn, we can frustrate the ruling elite's scheme to use the party-list system against the people's interests.

By SATUR C. OCAMPO

By all indications, the decision of Bayan Muna to participate in the May 14, 2001, elections under the party-list system is being proven correct by the results of the polls.

By all indications, too, the progressive movement's critical view of the nature of reactionary politics and elections has been validated by the results.

We anticipated that the usual negative factors in reactionary elections would come into play - the use of guns, goons and gold , the violence (killings and varied forms of harassment) used against our members and campaigners, and the many incidences of cheating from the precinct to the municipal, provincial and national levels. And they did.

Despite all these negative factors, Bayan Muna has emerged victorious in the party-list election.

We aimed to win big and we worked hard for it. The pre-election surveys by both Pulse Asia and Social Weather Stations showed Bayan Muna consistently garnering highest approval ratings among the more than 160 party-list aspirants. Still the voting results have exceeded our expectations. We are exhilarated by the warm reception and support that the people have given to our party.

At the same time, we should be humbled by such show of popular support. That support translates into a remarkably broad popular mandate. However, it entails a heavy responsibility - in light of the high expectations of benefits it has generated among the people - for Bayan Muna and its nominees to the legislative seats.

Bayan Muna was formed two years ago as a progressive political party advocating "the politics of change" or "the politics of the majority of the people." The May 14 election is its first electoral battle. Yet, our party appears to have topped, in terms of votes, all the other political parties participating in the party-list election, including the five "major" traditional parties, and all the other participating organizations, except the Estrada government-initiated Mad.

The five major traditional political parties are the Lakas-NUCD (lead party of the current ruling coalition), the Nationalist People’s Coalition (main opposition party), LDP, PDP-Laban and LP. These parties had held most of the seats in the House of Representatives for years. Also included are the PMP, the party of the ousted president, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, and the other members of the ruling coalition of the Macapagal-Arroyo government: Promdi, Reporma, and Aksyon-Demokratiko.

By this show of electoral strength and popular support, Bayan Muna is on the road to becoming a significant player in national politics. That it shall become so was presaged by the high-profile role of Bayan Muna in the campaign to oust Estrada from the presidency, particularly in the final march of 70,000 from EDSA to Mendiola on January 19, and by its consistent high approval ratings in the pre-election surveys.

Little Change

However, the hurdles to the party becoming a major political player remain formidable. This is because the conduct and the results of the May 14 elections show that, basically, little, if any, has changed in the nature of traditional elite politics that has held sway for decades since the grant of flag independence from US colonial rule in 1946.

Although some fresh faces and new blood may have gained entry into the political arena, by and large, the traditional political dynasties have retained their hold on municipal, provincial or even regional fiefdoms. Intensive factional conflicts among the traditional political parties pervade, from the national down to the local levels of government. This situation merely reflects the fact that no fundamental reform has been done to change the iniquitous economic and social structures.

The Arroyo government's vaunted claim that it espouses "new politics, one based not on personalities but on principles and programs" fell by the wayside in the course of the campaign. The ruling coalition, through its senatorial slate bannered by the “People Power Coalition," did not engage the pro-Estrada "Puwersa ng Masa (Forces of the Masses)" ticket in an electoral combat focused on any definable platform or program.

Neither side deigned to present a coherent platform. The contest was reduced to determining which faction of the ruling elite - the pro-Estrada or pro-Macapagal-Arroyo faction - could get the bigger number of votes. In short, what played out was the politics of personalities all over again. Thus, individual senatorial candidates had to plug their own personal selling points, not a common program for their particular slate.

The fact stands out that, although the Estrada regime was ousted through People Power II, its remnants and sources of financial support have remained intact. The ouster of Estrada happened so fast that neither the progressive forces nor its erstwhile allies now in the new government had been able to consolidate their political and organizational gains as the electoral campaign began. Thus the pro-Estrada forces, which had plotted out their electoral scheme early on, have been able to harness their resources for the electoral contest, and even ventured into a putsch that failed.

Thus, the May 14 elections became an arena for continuing factional strife among the ruling elite, which may drag on in the Senate and even in the House of Representatives. The resolution of the strife may depend on how each faction could exploit to its advantage the new alignment of forces in the two chambers of the legislature. The progressive forces will be watching the situation closely for opportunities to advance the people's struggle by adeptly applying alliance or united front tactics.

Petition for Exclusion

For a start, Bayan Muna has pursued its petition before the Supreme Court for the exclusion from party-list participation of the major political parties and organizations that are patently not marginalized and underrepresented in the legislature. These organizations include Mad (an Estrada government project), the real-estate group Creba, the National Federation of Sugar Planters, and Jeep (Estrada's original electoral campaign machinery). The objective is to weed out the parties and groups that hinder the participation of the truly marginalized and underrepresented sectors. The participation of the aforementioned bogus parties is making a total farce of the inherently deceptive application in the country of the party-list concept practiced in European countries.

In the first party-list election held in 1998, the party-list law (Republic Act 7941) barred the major political parties from participating. The rationale of the exclusion was "to enable Filipino citizens belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties and who lack well-defined constituencies to become members of the House of Representatives." The declared intent of the law is to "promote proportional representation" in the election of members of the House.

When Bayan Muna, in cooperation with the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan Muna), decided to participate in the party-list election in September 2000, we clearly defined our view of this electoral system and the objectives of our participation.

At best, we viewed the adoption of the party-list system as an admission by those who framed the 1987 Constitution that the ruling elite have controlled or monopolized the membership of Congress since its establishment. By calling for 20% of the House membership - equal to 52 of more than 200 seats now - to be reserved for party-list, the illusion of "proportional representation" for the marginalized and underrepresented sectors is projected, without endangering the dominance of the elite.

At worst, the party-list system is aimed at coopting, or inducing the leaders of progressive people's organizations to partake of the perks and privileges offered by traditional politics and eventually to forsake their militant stand for genuine social change. It should be noted that when the 1987 Constitution was drafted, the progressive and revolutionary movement was at peak strength.

Notwithstanding this view, we decided to enter the reactionary electoral arena, and the party-list election in particular, beginning with the May 14, 2001 elections.

Rising Political Consciousness

We are determined not to allow the voices of the ruling elite and those they have coopted to continue to dominate Congress. We are determined to bring into the legislature the voices of the militant workers, the peasants and fisherfolk and other democratic forces such as the women and the youth, initially through the party-list system, later through the national and local government elections.

We are conscious of the fact that no wide-ranging legislative reform truly addressing the plight and struggle of the majority poor can pass for as long as the ruling classes of big landlords and comprador bourgeoisie dominate Congress. Our immediate objective as radical opposition in parliament is to articulate, argue and demonstrate the urgent need for fundamental economic, political and social change. Simultaneously, Bayan Muna will oppose anti-people and anti-national legislation and push a progressive legislative agenda, which can mitigate the harsh plight of our suffering people.

We are likewise conscious that our participation in reactionary political exercises, including the party-list election, can have no meaning unless we treat this as part of the larger struggle of the people for fundamental economic, political and social change -- meaning, the democratic mass movement.

In more specific terms, we aim to use our entry into the legislature for the following objectives:

1) to use Congress as an added platform for exposing the rottenness of the ruling social and political system and the political faction in power, and vigorously oppose any policies and programs of the latter inimical to the people's and the national interest;

2) use Congress as platform to put forward a political program embodying the people's aspirations for democracy and national freedom;

3) foster and defend the people's human and democratic rights and aspirations; and

4) expand and strengthen our alliance work among the relatively progressive congressmen and senators toward pushing forward the people's agenda for change.

(Editors’ Note: The author is the president and one of the three nominees to Congress of Bayan Muna.)

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