llusinessWorld
ilc*sine,s*World
lloru GloriaArroyo's
ilppointees inthe
Comelec and Supreme
Courtdebasedthe
Party ListLaw
rO TAK$
I STANT}
)SCAR P. IAGMAN, JR.
rad disqualified other v/ould-be
)artylist candidates for notbeing
rom the marginalized sector
Mikey Arroyo's net worth of
'99 million placed himwayabove
rot only the marginalized sector
,ut the middle class of society
Ls well. He was part-owner of a
table which had 20 race horses,
ome of them worth Pl million
ach. In his guest appearance in
Winnie Monsodt TV talk show
"Unang Hirit" in 2009, he fum-
bled famously as he tried to ex-
plain how his net worth increased
ftomP76.9 millionin 2oo5 to P99
million in 2008and who the own-
er of the P63.7-million beachfiont
property in the United States was.
But President Arroyo's appoin-
tees in the Comelec - Nicodemo
Ferrer, Elias Yusoph, Lucenito
Tagle, and Armando Velasco -
helped to allow Mikey to repre-
sent thepartyllist grpup oftricycle
. drivers a4d security guards. The
protesters then filed with the
Supreme Court a disqualification
TUESDAY, FEBRUAIY 19, 2OI9
complaint against Mikey. The
Supreme Court, dominated by
Arroyo appointees led by Renato
Corona, who was also named chief
justice by President Arroyo in
contravention of the law, quickly
dismissed the disqualification
complaint against Mikey on the
basis of a biza$e argument.
The CoDrt ruled that it had no
ju sdiction to pass upon the eli-
gibility of Mikey Anoyo who was
already a member of the House of
Representatives. It acknowledged
that the House of Representatives
Electoral Tribunal had the original
jurisdiction over the petition for
.i paQa -,st f gti
I
the declaration of Mikey Arroyo's
ineligibility. But the complaint
was not about his qualification for
the House of Representatives. The
complaint was about his qualifica-
tion to represent a group from a
marginalized sector = the tricycle
drivers and security guards.
In cortrast, the Corona Court
readily took up Ombudsman
Merceditas Gutierrez's complaint
regarding the House ofRepresenta-
tives Justice Committee impeach-
-ing her on the basis of two com-
plaints when it had no jurisdiction
to pass upon impeadment cases as
only the House of Reprcsentatives
has jurisdiction over such cases.
Alsq the Court had ruled in 2Oo1
that onlythose padies or organiza-
tions and tleir nominees "who be-
long to tfie marginalized and under-
reprcsented sectors" were qualified
to hold party-list seats. In 2009 the
Cout excluded the major political
parties from partylist elections,
since they were already well-rep-
resented in the district polls. Using
that logig the Court should have ex-
cluded MikeyArroyo ftom the 2o1O
elections on the glounds that one
family, the Arroyo family, would be
overly represented.
Any\,i'ay, in October 2Ol3 the
Comelec, then headed by Presi-
dent Benigno Aquino-appointed
Sixto Bdllantes, Jr., motu proprio
(acting on its own initiative) dis-
qualified Ang Galing Pinoy from
run[ing in that year's elections
because their nominees were
not tricycle ddvbrs and security
guards. Comelec First Divisioii
Commissioner Rene Sarmiento,
'who
back in
2o1o had voted
against Mikey Arroyo's eligibility
as nomilee of Ang Galing Pinoy,
said: "The disqualification ofAGP
is an example ofthe party-list sys-
tem truly serving the marginal-
ized and underrepresented."
However, in 2ol3 the Court, still
dominated by Arroyo appointees,
reversed its 2001and 2OO9 r'ulings.
It held that the party-list system
is composed of three groups: the
national parties, the regional par-
ties, and the sectoral parties or
organizations, with the national
and regional parties not needing to
represent any "marginalized and
underrepresented" sector. The
Court said it is sufrcient that their
members advocate common ide-
ologies or governance principles
regardless of theireconomic status.
The Court interpreted the
words "marginalized and under-
represented" as the incapacity
to win district elections for any
reason. That interpretation of
the Court enabled multi-million-
aircs, members of political d!'nas-
ties, and those well-connected
to the powers that be to use the
partyJist system as the easier and
cheaper way of getting elected
to the House of Representatives,
thus crowding out of Congress
the real marginalized folks.
In effect, the Supreme Court
modified RA 7941 by discarding
its original intent of giving the
marginalized and underrepre-
sented sectors who lack well-
defined political constituencies
but who could contribute to the
formulation and enactment of
appropdate legislation that will
benefit the nation as a wholc the
oppo*unity to become members
of the House of Representatives.
once again, the Supreme Court
justices, who were not elected by
the citizenry, usurped the func-
tion of Congress, this time to the
detriment of the marginalized
and underrepresented citizens
that RA 7941 meant to benelit. s
OSCAR P LAGI'44N, JR. i5 a
member of Manindiganla
cause-oriented grouP
ofbusinessmen,
professionals, and
academics.
oplagnan
@yahoo.(om