The OFW Partylist filed a petition before the Supreme Court on Monday, May 26, seeking a review of how seats are allocated to successful party-list groups in the 20th Congress.
In its petition for certiorari, the OFW Partylist called for a recomputation of the distribution of party-list seats using a formula that excludes awarding an additional seat to organizations that only garnered 2% of the total votes cast.
Akbayan, Duterte Youth, and Tingog each hold three party-list seats. 4Ps, ACT-CIS, and AKO BICOL secured two seats each. A total of 48 party-list groups have won at least one seat. There are 63 seats reserved for party-list representatives, and the OFW Partylist ranks 59th.
“Dapat po 64 ang seats ng partylist at ginagawa lamang nila na 63 sa representasyon sa Kongreso. Bakit? Ito pong gagawin na 64 ay makadadagdag sa marginalized sector na makakaupo sa Kongreso na magiging boses ng mga nasa laylayan ng lipunan,” said Rep. Marissa del Mar.
“Ang aming pinaglalaban dito ay tunay po sana, wag natin ihalal ang isang nagkukunwari na siya po ay kinatawan pero kung tutuusin po wala naman po talaga silang kinakatawan na sektor. Ang kinakasama ng loob ng mga OFWs natin, tayo pa ang nawalan ng boses sa Kongreso. Para tayong meron tayong committee ng healthcare, wala naman tayong doktor,” she added.
Del Mar also urged the Court to review the accreditation of party-list groups and disqualify those that do not genuinely represent marginalized sectors from participating in future elections.IMT
