For the people? Political dynasties, big business dominate party-list system in 2025 polls
MANILA, Philippines — Are the 156 party-lists vying for seats in the 20th Congress truly representative of marginalized and underrepresented sectors? A recent study suggests that majority are not.
Election watchdog Kontra Daya looked into the backgrounds of nominees from each party-list running in the 2025 midterm elections.
It found that more than half (55.13%) of the 156 groups had ties to political clans, big businesses, the police and military, corruption cases or “dubious” advocacies.
This suggests that at least 1 in 2 party-lists on the ballot may not genuinely be coming from the sectors they claim to represent or advocate for.
Political dynasties. Of the 86 party-list groups flagged, 40 were linked to political dynasties.
In other words, about 3 in 10 party-list groups have nominees from political families. These include:
- 4Ps Party-list - Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan’s children
- FPJ Panday Bayanihan - Sen. Grace Poe’s husband and son
- ACT-CIS - Sen. Raffy Tulfo’s wife and in-laws.
- Tingog Sinirangan - House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s wife and son.
ACT-CIS, 4Ps and Tingog were among the top five most voted party-list groups in the 2022 national elections, securing two to three seats each in the 19th Congress.
Despite their ties to political dynasties, these groups say they champion crime prevention and anti-insurgency (ACT-CIS), poverty alleviation (4Ps) and regional representation (Tingog).
Meanwhile, FPJ Panday Bayanihan is a newcomer in the party-list race, claiming to advocate for civic unity and community service among Filipinos.
Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao told Philstar.com in a message that the study followed the academic definition of political clans, which is “having relatives in elective and appointive positions.”
“This contradicts Ben Tulfo's claim that bailiwick is absolutely necessary. It is not. The key is power and influence,” he added.
Big business. When it comes to big businesses, 25 of the 86 flagged party-list groups had nominees holding high positions in one or more firms.
Case in point: the 1PACMAN Party-list, which claims to represent marginalized and displaced sectors while focusing on sports development.
Several of its nominees serve as board directors of Globalport 900 Inc., a holding company that develops and manages ports in the country.
TGP Party-list, said to represent youth and urban poor sectors, has nominees who hold CEO positions, including in construction firm Teravera Corp. and media company EuroTV Philippines.
These two party-lists have incumbent representatives in the House of Representatives, as they were among the 56 groups granted a seat in 2022.
Meanwhile, 18 party-list groups in the upcoming elections have nominees with backgrounds in the police or military, including the Duterte Youth, PBBM and Patrol Party-lists.
Corruption-linked. Although only seven party-list groups have nominees facing graft, plunder, or corruption cases, the election watchdog warned that this remains a red flag.
One example is Gilas Party-list’s second nominee, Junn Magno, a former general manager of the Philippine National Railways.
In 2019, the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission filed a complaint against him for gross misconduct over the alleged illegal use of P50.9 million in funds.
Dubious. A total of 11 party-list groups were flagged for having “dubious advocacies,” which Arao described as a mismatch between their stated mission and the track record of the party-list or its nominees.
The study also found that some party-list groups were flagged for multiple reasons, as some not only belong to political families but may also have ties to big businesses or have been charged with corruption raps.
Arao attributed this issue with party-lists to a “lack of due diligence in screening.” He noted that while some groups have faced scrutiny over their qualifications, others have been disqualified for not being considered marginalized even though they were.
But how did the party-list system exist in the first place?
The party-list system was established under the 1987 Constitution, which mandates that 20% of the House of Representatives must be composed of party-list representatives.
These groups are meant to represent marginalized and underrepresented sectors, including laborers, peasants, urban poor, indigenous peoples, women and youth, as defined by law.
This mandate is further detailed in the Republic Act 7941 or the Party-List Act of 1995. Under Section 1, party-list groups must come from the “marginalized and underrepresented” sectors, particularly those that “lack well-defined political constituencies.”
For the 20th Congress, 317 House seats are at stake, with around 63 allocated to party-list groups.
To secure a seat, a group must receive at least 2% of the total votes cast. All party-lists are ranked and those surpassing this threshold are eligible for up to three seats, depending on the remaining number of seats.
For example, if only 60 party-lists secure at least 2% of the votes, the remaining three seats will be allocated to the top three highest-ranked groups, giving them two seats each in Congress.
Filipino voters can cast two votes for the House of Representatives: one for a district representative and one for a party-list group.
According to the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), the incumbent Congress that 36 of 54 party-list groups — or two-thirds — are linked to political families.
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