Passage of political party dev't bill sought

MANILA, Philippines - The Centris Democratic Party of the Philippines (CDP) yesterday pushed for the immediate passage of the Political Party Development Bill to improve the country’s political system and electoral processes.

The CDP, a group of political parties and other concerned sectors, came up with this consensus during a workshop-conference.

Members have also agreed that the country’s political system remains “weak and personality-oriented rather than based on ideology, program and platform.”

“It is incumbent upon us to push for the immediate passage of the bill if we are to have truly honest, free and credible elections next year,” CDP president Lito Lorenzana said.

Lorenzana, who served as former undersecretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and Department of the Interior and Local Government, noted that political parties are “vital to strengthening the Philippine democracy as they build political constituencies for their party platform and programs of governance.”

He added political parties play a crucial role in institutionalizing and implementing policies that address long-term needs of the people.

As an output of the workshop, the CDP came up with a declaration pushing for several advocacies like the adoption of a term “national political party” instead of all references to political parties; the provision prohibiting and penalizing political turncoats; the creation of a campaign finance department of the Commission on Elections; the imposition of stricter standards and parameters for registration of political parties and the allocation of government support funds for political party development.