members protest the ‘sale’ of the party-list system. Photo: AKBAYAN WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN The Party-list and the 2007 Elections n By PERCIVAL CENDAÑA* has made obvious that the party-list contest could easily F THERE is anything significant about the party- succumb to the damning list race in the recent elections, it is the elements of traditional politics. conspicuous change in the terrain of the party- The tide of money politics, list contest. The change in this case could easily patronage and fraud has greatly be characterized as “inevitable,” given that the altered the playing field for groups supposedly vying to Iparty-list contest is set against the marauding backdrop represent the disempowered of Philippine elections. and the marginalized. For one, the ‘Panganiban land in the top slot. This is quite Interestingly, the 2007 party- formula’ has heightened the a change from the past three list elections was also defined competition among party-list elections, when garnering a by the heightened interest and groups. Since it is only the mere six percent (6%) of the total participation of religious highest ranking party-list party-list votes was enough to groups or their affiliates in the organization that would get the get three (3) seats in Congress. race. This time around the maximum three seats, groups Secondly, and more religious hand was invisible no have to pull out all the stops to importantly, the 2007 elections more as religious leaders go all

4 Human Rights FORUM out, as in out in the open, in the campaign, from sorties to Table 1. PARTY-LIST GROUPS BELIEVED TO HAVE ADMINISTRATION BACKING negotiations. NAME ACRONYM VOTES PERCENTAGE The inception of the party-list system in 1998 was greeted with 1-United Transport Coalition 1-UTAK 164,813 1.05 much optimism from the Aangat Tayo AT 187,040 1.19 progressive community. It was Agbiag! Timpuyog Ilocano, Inc. AGBIAG! 50,781 0.32 seen as a significant inroad to an Aging Pilipino Organization, Inc. AGING PINOY 16,671 0.11 elite-dominated institution. Ahon Pinoy AHON 54,476 0.35 Through the years, it has been an Akbay Pinoy OFW-National, Inc. APOI 79,319 0.51 important site for the assertion Aksyon Sambayanan AKSA 56,859 0.36 of progressive causes and Alay sa Bayan ng Malayang Propesyonal ABAY PARAK 42,233 0.27 interests. Up to a certain extent, at Repormang Kalakal the progressive elements within Alliance for Rural Concerns ARC 373,626 2.38 the party-list in Congress have Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy* ANAD 188,418 1.20 effectively served as fiscalizing Angat Ating Kabuhayan Pilipinas, Inc. ANAK 141,693 0.90 agents in times of great political Babae Para sa Kaunlaran BABAE KA 36,217 0.23 contradictions. In fact, in the Barangay Association for National BANAT 175,868 1.12 mainstream consciousness pre- Advancement of Transparency May 2007 elections, the party-list The True Marcos Loyalist (for God, Country and People) BANTAY 168,459 1.07 was synonymous with the Association of the , Inc.* progressives. Bigkis Pinoy Movement BIGKIS 77,282 0.49 But with the bursting Biyaheng Pinoy BP 77,365 0.49 incursion of traditional politics Kasangga sa Kaunlaran, Inc. ANG KASANGGA 167,437 1.07 coupled with the phenomena of Youth League for Peace Advancement LYPAD 8,436 0.05 heightened religious partici- United Movement Against Drug* UNI-MAD 240,744 1.53 pation, the party-list race will You Against Corruption and Poverty YACAP 275,202 1.75 never be the same again, as far TOTAL 2,582,939 16.44 as the progressive community *Also backed by the military is concerned. national, drew in massive fraud Malacañang’s bets in the party-list elections. The The 2007 race was by far the 2007 elections will be most competitive party-list remembered as the election election. Other than the when the political elite took the Panganiban formula, further party-list seriously. Seriously heightening the competition is here means pulling every trick the higher number of party-list from the proverbial hat of candidates this year. The election fraud, Philippine-style. COMELEC, this time being Of course, fraud was not suddenly benevolent and absent in the party-list elections accommodating, accredited 93 before. The party-list has never party-list organizations. This is been immune from the quite a leap from the 64 groups corrupting elements of recognized in 2004. Philippine elections. But 2007 is The COMELEC’s seeming a different case altogether. This Photo: VANESSA RETUERMA openhandedness in granting time, the cheating was so accreditation is not at all The administration groups entrants is significant enough to obvious and brazen that it is surprising especially given the crowded the party-list race and affect the results of an election now on a par with the cheating administration’s drive to get raised the threshold. The that is based on each in the “more popular” political their own party-list groups in 2,582,939 votes (16.44 percent of organization’s percentage share positions. Congress to offset the total party-list votes) garnered of the total number of votes. The municipal canvass in a oppositionist left blocs. In the by the 20 administration groups Because of the low voter turn- number of municipalities in 2007 elections, at least 20 groups is more than enough to raise the out for the party-list, more Mindanao show that the party- were identified as admi- total number of party-list votes groups, in effect, fought over a list turnout was higher than the nistration-backed party-list thereby significantly increasing small pie. actual number of registered organizations. the number of votes needed to voters. The turnout in other Out of the 20, only one has reach the two percent bar from Fraudulent competition areas in Mindanao is also very garnered the required two 265,000 in 2004 to 315,00 in 2007. The competition in the 2007 suspicious, almost anomalous. percent to get a seat in congress. The vote increment created by party-list race was made even The NCR registered the highest However, it would be wrong the 20 groups is enough to more tougher by the “electoral party-list awareness in surveys to assume that the admi- deprive a legitimate group of a practices” of traditional politics. with a meager 42 percent. But nistration has failed in its intent. seat or an additional seat. The participation of groups led the party-list turnout in Sulu It has, in fact, succeeded. The sheer number of by political elites, both local and went as high as 98 percent. A

Human Rights FORUM 5 number of provinces in Minda- produced P2 million worth of nao, including Zamboanga del sample ballots and they Sur, Tawi-tawi and Basilan allegedly did the same in registered suspiciously high Pampanga and Cavite. A new party-list turnout. party-list group gave ten Also, vote padding was thousand pesos to every repeatedly uncovered during barangay captain in Batangas, the national canvassing at the while another party-list group PICC when provincial state- led by local elites in Northern ments of votes were compared Luzon gave campaign contri- with municipal certificates of butions to mayoralty candidates canvass. Padding in Mindanao in Pangasinan and La Union. went as high as 38,000 in a In courting voters, some province with 25 towns. It is groups resorted to the more obvious that it is not only the traditional way of winning their operators of the “more main- hearts—buy their votes. In some stream” politicians that went areas, particularly in Northern shopping for votes in Mindanao, Luzon, vote-buying was done in but party-list operators as well. the conventional way of cash in And if there is shopping, exchange for votes. In Laguna there is money to spend. and Batangas, a party-list organization of livestock So much money to spend entrepreneurs distributed meat The change in the terrain was products to voters. On the eve most felt in the amount of of the election, a local leader of resources poured in by some a left party-list group expressed party-list groups. Take the case grave disappointment by of negotiations with local saying, “Ano ang laban natin sa candidates. The practice before tone-toneladang tocino? Ang meron was largely like this: A local lang tayo prinsipyo.” candidate woes a party-list Whether cash or tocino, participation of local elites. the party-list is national in group for endorsement and the money politics has raised the They saw the party-list as a scope, these groups con- vote of their members. In level of competition in the backdoor to the House of centrated their efforts in their exchange, the name of the party- party-list. This has debilitating Representatives. These new respective vote-rich areas. Their list appears on the sample ballot effects on the chances of groups, breed of serious players in the assumption was that the party- of the local candidate and gets like left forces, that do not have party-list game were organized list votes in their area were included in the local candidate’s as much resources to spare. The or supported by political clans enough to break into the two campaign sorties. The practice pouring in of so much resources like the Tomawis clan’s ALIF or percent threshold. Two of them now is the other way around: in the party-list race has greatly the local business elite like succeeded, ABONO and AGAP. party-list groups “invest” in altered the playing field. The Batangas businessmen’s AGAP. These groups enjoy the local candidates in exchange for well-oiled campaign machinery There were also situations when network and, oftentimes, the support. of elite party-list groups signifi- the two elements converged, as resources of their patrons, be it The investment could be in cantly eats into the market share in the case of ABONO. The group a political clan or business. This the form of campaign of the left especially in their relied on the machinery of the comparative advantage is paraphernalia or campaign areas of concentration. Ortegas of La Union and the difficult to neutralize by contributions. Buhay Party-list, Estrellas of Pangasinan, with the competitors who also target for example, printed sample New but old support of trader Rosendo So their vote-rich bailiwicks. They ballots with the names of local Raising the level of com- who is said to be connected with in effect shut out other groups candidates in huge volumes. In petition in the party-list was the Danding Cojuangco. in their areas of operation. Bulacan, they allegedly heightened vigor in the Even if the constituency of ABONO’s vote delivery in La Union and Pangasinan alone was enough to get them a seat. Table 2. REGIONAL POLITICAL ELITE’S PARTY-LIST GROUPS This is the same with AGAP’s NAME ACRONYM VOTES PERCENTAGE electoral performance in Batangas and Laguna. Abono ABONO 339,888 2.16 Agbiag! Timpuyog Ilocano, Inc. AGBIAG! 50,781 0.32 Bible-bamboozled AN WARAY 315,527 2.01 The fiercest competition Ang Laban ng Indiginong Filipino ALIF 157,111 1.00 however came from the most Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines, Inc. AGAP 328,600 2.09 entrenched camp of religious Bahandi sa Kaumahan ug Kadagatan BAHANDI 46,555 0.30 groups, with El Shaddai’s Buhay Kalahi-Advocates for Overseas Filipinos KALAHI 88,720 0.56 as the runaway winner of the Kapatiran ng mga Nakulong na Walang Sala KAKUSA 228,770 1.46 top slot and Jesus is Lord TOTAL 1,555,952 9.9 Movement’s CIBAC landing on

6 Human Rights FORUM Table 3. PARTY-LIST GROUPS AFFILIATED WITH RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS NAME ACRONYM VOTES PERCENTAGE Alagad ALAGAD 423,071 2.69 Bagong Alyansang Tagapagtaguyod BATAS 384,961 2.45 ng Adhikaing Sambayanan Buhay Hayaan Yumabong BUHAY 1,169,165 7.45 Citizens Battle Against Corruption CIBAC 755,393 4.81 TOTAL 2,732,590 17.4 Table 4. LEFT PARTY-LIST GROUPS ACRONYM VOTES PERCENTAGE VARIANCE FROM 1994 (%) AKBAYAN 460,968 2.94 -45.64 ASAP 34,079 0.22 -32.4 AMIN 316,249 2.01 +14.73 369,023 2.35 -31.01 976,364 6.22 -19.82 GABRIELA 620,890 3.95 +27.71 * 228,349 1.45 +7.42 PM 116,892 0.74 -74.16 97,311 0.62 -48.68 SUARA 103,387 0.66 -54.47 TOTAL 3,543,728 22.56 *formerly Anak ng Bayan and the value of their (PM) them from endorsing left Photo: AKBAYAN endorsement. Their position and which eventually cost them groups. Second, the with- third place with two seats. The condition truly looks enviable their seat in Congress. holding of pork barrel of religious party-list cluster was from the viewpoint of less AKBAYAN lost two seats, incumbent left groups greatly the most successful grouping in entrenched party-list groups. Anakpawis lost one, while the affected their project delivery to the recent polls, with all of them previous topnotcher Bayan their constituencies and their hurdling the threshold. ‘Left’ at the disadvantage Muna lost its third seat. negotiating capacity with local These groups have been very The result of the previous The left had a lot against politicians. Third, fraud and transparent with their religious election is generally grim as far them this election. First is the money politics brought in by connections and convictions this as the left is concerned. Except vicious anti-left campaign of the the elite contenders have made election. Bro. Mike Velarde for for Gabriela and Anak administration. This ranged competition tougher. All these, example was very open in Mindanao (AMIN), the votes of from military harassment to a plus the greater participation of campaigning for Buhay. In a not- all incumbent party-list groups blanket policy imposed by religious groups, have altered so-subtle ploy, he even used declined. The decline in votes Malacañang on local admi- the level of competition and Buhay as an acronym for the went as high as 74 percent for nistration candidates that barred tilted it against the left. public’s criteria for choosing a candidate. Its singular campaign Turning the tide message was limited to the pro- Some claim that the party- life/anti-abortion theme list system has been bastardized, consistent with the line of the that it is a dead end. But at this Catholic Church. BATAS, a point and with the current party-list group identified with balance of forces, it is the most Bro. Ely Soriano’s Ang Dating that progressive forces have. Daan, said that one of their Even if the left shifts its focus on primary programs is to other positions, the same distribute free bibles in schools. conditions will still be present. The impressive performance The challenge really is to turn of religious groups could be the tide of elite politics in the attributed to a number of factors. party-list race and in the One could be resources and the elections in general. other one is their solid ...... machinery. A significant factor PERCIVAL CENDAÑA is the could also be their premium Deputy Secretary General of Akbayan negotiating position with local Party-list. The views expressed in this candidates where their flocks are article do not necessarily reflect the present because of their stature official stand of Akbayan. Photo: PEPITO FRIAS

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