Eighty percent (80%) of the members of our House of Representatives (Congress) are elected in one-man congressional districts. Our electoral system thus unwittingly supports the success and sustainability of political dynasties and powerful families all over the country.

 

What do we expect of Centrist Democratic Reforms?

As our representatives, we expect our political leaders to express our hopes and aspirations for a better life. These expectations or interests are translated into party platforms by the political leaders. Political leaders aggregate these interests and resources behind policies. Centrist or Christian concept of the value of dignity of the individual should be the basis of policy-making and reforms.

Once elected, representatives must exercise power that’s consistently based on the philosophy of governance and values and are expressed on the written platform of the political party. However, we can see that political parties existing in the country are very identical, what differs are just the names and nothing more. They do not have unique platforms that will serve as the direction of governance and no clear party affiliations – candidates even are turncoats and they have no sanction to that.

The constitutional and legal setups of the Philippine political system do not confer major roles to political parties in national, regional and local political life. They also act as deterrents and disincentives for political parties to institutionalize themselves.

We demand a reform of the legal framework for political parties in the country.  Only parties which are member-based have internal democratic structures and procedures and clear program orientation should be permitted to field in candidates for elections. If our aim is to depart from the old, rotten system, then this must be addressed.