CABARROGUIS, Quirino – In a press statement released yesterday, March 3, 2022, election watchdog Kontra Daya identified seven out of every 10 party-list groups participating in the 2022 elections as having been hijacked by political clans, big businesses, and state interests.
“The country’s party-list system continues to be hijacked by the rich and powerful. Around 70 percent of party-list groups are being used as a backdoor to further entrench their political and economic interests,” the statement read.
According to their study, 120 of the 177 party-list groups have been flagged for being identified with political clans and big businesses, as well as for having incumbent government 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).
“In the 2019 party-list elections, at least 62 out of 134 party-list groups were flagged, which represent almost 50 percent. For this election cycle, the 120 party-list groups flagged out of 177 represent almost 70 percent,” Kontra Daya said.
“As in the past election cycle, Kontra Daya’s team of researchers analyzed the profiles of the 177 party-list groups, focusing on their declared advocacies, track record in public service, and background of their party-list nominees,” they added.
The results of their study revealed that 44 groups are controlled by political clans and at least 21 have connections with big businesses; at least 34 were found to have unknown or unclear advocacies or representations; at least 32 have connections with the government or military; at least 26 have incumbent local officials running as nominees, and at least 19 have pending court cases or criminal charges.
Kontra Daya lists six categories used in scrutinizing and flagging these party-list groups: Political clans, big businesses, unknown or unclear advocacies and representations, government/military connections, incumbent local officials as party-list nominees, and pending cases. Under these categories, there are party-list groups that were flagged “not once but thrice.”
Kontra Daya cites several of these thrice-flagged party-list groups as examples.
- ACT-CIS – The first nominee Edvic G. Yap, together with ACT-CIS Representative Eric Yap, was included in Senator Panfilo Lacson’s exposé in 2017 about the web of corruption at the Bureau of Customs (BOC) under Nicanor Faeldon’s leadership. The second nominee Jocelyn P. Tulfo is the wife of incumbent ACT-CIS Representative Raffy Tulfo; the fourth nominee Erwin Tulfo is a brother of former Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo who resigned as Tourism secretary amid the questionable payment of Php 60 million for ad placements on the show of brothers Erwin and Ben.
- Wow Pilipinas – Wow Pilipinas’s first nominee Genevive L. Reyes is Vice Mayor of Caluya, Antique who was indicted for graft and violation of the Coconut Preservation Act in April 2018. The second nominee is Peter Paul P. Dy, Jr., national president of the Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers, managing director of PLD Construction and Development, Inc., president of Mandy Hotmix, Inc., and CEO of Power Frame Development Corporation; he also sits among the board of directors of MAPS Construction, APSI Asphalt Batching Plant Supply, and Mandaue Green Building Management.
- 4PS – The first nominee of 4PS is Marcelino C. Libanan, a former member of the House of Representatives (representing Northern Samar) and a former immigration commissioner during the Macapagal-Arroyo administration; he was accused of violating Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) in connection with the purchase of 2, 164 bags of fertilizer amounting to Php 3.25 million from Akame Marketing International in April 2004. The 5th nominee is Jonathan Clement M. Abalos II, son of Jonathan Abalos who is a brother of former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) Chair Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos.
- BHW – The first nominee of BHW is Angelica Natasha A. Co, incumbent party-list representative and daughter of former Ako Bicol Rep. Christopher Co. The second nominee is Martin Aber E. Sicat, a shareholder of Aremar Construction Corp. who was under investigation for allegedly receiving Php 81.1 million in kickbacks as part of the bid-rigging schemes.
- IPEACEEPANAW – The IPEACEEPANAW is identified as “a government red-tagging mechanism even as it claims to promote the rights of indigenous peoples.” The first nominee Atty. Reuben Dasay A. Liganting is a former chairperson of the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and head of Indigenous Peoples Peace Panel in 2017, whereas the second nominee Atty. Marlon Bosantog used to be director of the NCIP’s legal affairs office and spokesperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC); the latter was declared persona non grata by more than 100 elders and leaders in the Apayao Province mainly for red-tagging indigenous people’s organizations and leaders as Communist fronts in the Cordillera.
The party-list’s fourth nominee Rancy C. Astroveza served as NCIP commissioner, while its fifth nominee Egwan S. Ala, Huwadon Datu and municipal chieftain of an indigenous tribe in Carrascal, Surigao del Sur, declared the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as persona non grata in Surigao del Sur.
- Duterte Youth – The second nominee of the Duterte Youth Party-list Ralph Raymon T. Preza (also known as RR Preza) is a relative of father and son Tiaong Mayor Ramon Abad Preza and Councilor Amboy Preza. In the 2019 election cycle, the party-list group became controversial for “misrepresenting the youth; misusing and abusing government resources, and red-tagging.”
Furthermore, Kontra Daya cites two other party-list groups who are listed as nominees, those who are identified with the NTF-ELCAC. These are MOCHA, whose first and second nominees are Esther Margeaux “Mocha” J. Uson and Michele Theresa I. Gumabao, respectively; and Abante Sambayanan whose first nominee is Jeffrey “Ka Eric” Celiz.
Kontra Daya concluded their statement with a call to action for journalists and fact-checkers to investigate whether there are party-list groups funded or supported by the government, citing the case of the party-list group Mamaman Ayaw sa Droga (MAD) “which was disqualified for not representing any marginalized center,” and was exposed as a vehicle for the Philippine National Police (PNP) in its fight against drugs. They also called on the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) to explain “why it continues to allow dubious groups to hijack the party-list system, depriving marginalized groups of having a voice at the House of Representatives (HOR).”
