Alvarez backs abolition of party-list system

Speaker Pantaleon Alva- rez is supporting President Duterte’s proposal for the abolition of party- list representation in the House of Representatives.

“I cannot disagree with the President on this issue. I support the position he has taken,” he said.

“But in fairness also to the party-list representatives in Congress now, they really work hard. They religiously attend sessions and committee hearings,” he said.

Most party-list lawmakers are members of Alvarez’s majority coalition.

In advocating the abolition of the party-list system, Duterte said political parties and moneyed businessmen and politicians abused it by electing their representatives in the House through the party-list route.

The Speaker said it was puzzling that framers of the Charter included provisions on party-list representation.

“You already have representatives elected from different districts. The sectors party-list lawmakers seek to represent belong to certain districts. They are represented by their congressmen,” he said.

He said the abolition of the party-list system would be included in the planned revised Constitution, if approved by Congress sitting as a constituent assembly.

If that is good for the country, then incumbent party-list representatives and their sectors should accept it, he added.

Alvarez appealed to the public to support the Charter rewriting initiative of the Duterte administration.

“It’s very seldom that we have a leader who is determined to really change the country. Let us do it now,” he said.

Members of political dynasties have been representing some party-list groups in the House.

Their current representatives have the same surnames as their predecessors. They are the spouse, daughter, son or relative of those they replaced, who were forced to take a “break” as House members due to the constitutional three-term limit.