[Rear View] It’s my party (and I’ll run if I want to)

It’s over and done, that week-long frenzy of candidates filing their candidacy certificates for the midterm elections, the triennial rite of our supposedly vibrant democracy. 

And for the first time since social media threw a monkey wrench into our values and behaviors, not to mention sleeping patterns, influencers — celebrities in their own right — are running as candidates.

One of them is Deo Balbuena, or Diwata. He has reached that level of internet fame that he now has his own Wikipedia entry, where he is described as “a Filipino internet personality, food vlogger, entrepreneur, and advocate within the LGBTQ+ community.” The entry also mentions awards (“Most Sensational Media Personality of the Year” for 2024 and “Social Media Influencer of the Year”) and a filmography (for his cameo appearance on the TV series “Batang Quiapo”). 

For the clueless, he is famous, or infamous, depending on the size of your wallet and taste buds, for his cheapo pares (braised beef stew), served with garlic rice and clear soup. 

Balbuena is the nominee of a party-list representing vendors. Makes sense on the surface, but he is not the first nominee (he is the fourth). The first nominee who gets a seat in Congress should the party meet the minimum vote threshold is said to be a big-time contractor of the Department of Public Works and Highways, which is stretching the definition of vending a bit too far. 

‘Tool for social justice’

There used to be a time when “party-list” was synonymous with sectoral groups who acted as gadflies to whoever sat in Malacañang, their presence in the hallowed halls of the Batasang Pambansa an obligatory nod to the Constitution.

The inclusion of party-list groups in Congress is one of the unique features of the 1987 Constitution, an affirmation of “people empowerment” through representation in the legislature. During its early period, the party-list system was seen as opening an entire world of possibilities for issues-based, not personality-based or machinery-based, campaigning, and meaningful social legislation.

In 2001, the Supreme Court, deciding on one of several petitions to clarify the party-list law, went as far as hailing the party-list system as a “social justice tool.” Not only would it lead to laws that would benefit “the great masses who have less in life,” the high court said, but it would also produce citizen-legislators “empowered to participate directly in the enactment of laws designed to benefit them.” Amen to that.

Reversal

But in 2013, the High Court, in what is widely regarded as a reversal of its previous ruling, said that party-list groups should not be exclusive to marginalized or unrepresented sectors.

“It is sufficient,” said the justices, “that the political party consists of citizens who advocate the same ideology or platform, or the same governance principles and policies regardless of their economic status as citizens.”

The decision opened the floodgates to party-lists of divergent persuasions and advocacies. From 123 in 1998, the number grew to 134 party-list groups accredited by the poll body for the 2019 midterm elections. In 2022, that number went up to 173, but only 55 won seats in Congress. For the 2025 midterms, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said a total of 190 party-lists are vying for congressional seats. 

The composition, complexion, and clout of party-list groups and their representatives also changed dramatically.

You now have members of political clans, businessmen, professionals, pastors, retired police and military officers, to name a few, serving as party-list representatives. You have groups claiming to be advocates of health and education, agriculture, cheaper electricity, and provincial development; anti-corruption fighters, protectors of the environment; champions of senior citizens, the disabled, firemen, midwives, LPG dealers, motorcycle riders, domestics, solo parents, construction workers, government pensioners, security guards, Ilocanos, Bikolanos, Visayans, Warays, Ilonggos, and Tausugs. Whew. And that’s just for starters. 

In a tight fight for national votes (party-list groups are elected nationally), the competing organizations have copied the campaign template of senatorial candidates. They place political advertisements on radio and television, tap celebrities as endorsers or nominees, and deal with local politicians and power brokers for a slice of votes in their respective turf. Some of these parties have money to burn, spending as much as or even more than senatorial candidates, raising speculations on the real source of their funding and the interests they really represent. 

Transformation

In the past, party-list representatives were treated as second class members of the House. But over the years, some of them have snagged juicy positions, becoming power centers themselves. Most of them align with the majority, supporting bills and policies of the ruling administration. Perks and political interests, not the advocacies or the welfare of the sectors they claim to represent, often dictate their voting behavior.

How else could one justify the support given by some party-list groups to extrajudicial killings, which target marginalized citizens, during the Duterte administration, or the closure of ABS-CBN?

The Comelec says it favors amendments to the party-list law to define the specific sectors that should be represented in Congress. The Constitution actually identifies these sectors: “labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women and youth.” The religious sector is excluded from participating. The rest of the sectors it left to Congress to identify. Senator Koko Pimentel, now running for a House seat, shares the position of Comelec. He also wants to reform the party-list system to stop political clans from using it to expand their power.  

But don’t get your hopes up. Given the current composition of Congress, I’ll bet you a bowl of cheapo Diwata pares: that bill won’t even hurdle committee level. – Rappler.com

Joey Salgado is a former journalist, and a government and political communications practitioner. He served as spokesperson for former vice president Jejomar Binay.