Nearly 40 years ago, the framers of the post-Marcos Constitution provided for a party-list system to ensure that Congress would not be dominated by political families.

Today, the hope that party-list representatives would provide a counterweight to the power of dynasties has been completely dashed.

In the 20th Congress, half of the 64 party-list representatives come from political clans whose members currently hold national and local office, or held elective posts immediately before them. These include relatives of the President and Vice President — the first time in Philippine electoral history that the kin of the country’s two highest officials simultaneously clinched party-list seats in Congress. 

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s cousin-in-law Yedda Romualdez and her son Andrew Julian Romualdez ran under the Leyte-based Tingog Sinirangan, while Harold Duterte, a cousin of Vice President Sara Duterte, won a seat through Pwersa ng Pilipinong Pandagat. 

The framers of the 1987 Constitution designed the party-list system to serve as a platform for issue-based lawmakers representing alternative views, not the pillars of the establishment like the Marcoses and Dutertes who have monopolized elective office in their bailiwicks for decades. The party-list seats are on top of other elective posts held by members of these dynasties.

The President’s sister Imee is a senator. His son Sandro represents the first district of Ilocos Norte; his cousin-in-law and his nephew are governor and vice governor, respectively, of Ilocos Norte.

The family’s reach goes all the way to Leyte, where the representative of the first district is the President’s cousin Martin Romualdez (Yedda’s husband); the mayor of Tacloban City, the capital, is another cousin, and the mayor’s son, his nephew, is vice mayor; and a councilor of Tacloban City is another nephew.

Meanwhile, the Vice President’s brother Paolo Duterte represents the first district of Davao; her nephew represents the second district; her other brother Sebastian is acting mayor of Davao City; and another nephew is the city’s vice mayor.

By the count of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), 32 of the 64 party-list representatives in the 20th Congress come from active political clans although the parties they belong to claim to represent the poor, farmers, and ordinary folk from their provinces.

Government contractors, too, have penetrated the 20th Congress through the party-list route.

PCIJ research shows that nearly a third of party-list lawmakers are either founders or shareholders of companies that have been awarded government contracts, have relatives who are government contractors, or received campaign donations from such individuals. They claim to represent multiple sectors and regional constituencies. 

“Groups associated with powerful political families have used the party-list system as a ‘backdoor’ to expand dynastic influence in the House of Representatives,” said the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel). The system has been “captured by political dynasties and economic elites,” Namfrel added. 

The flood control corruption scandal that rocked the country in mid-2025 gave way to government probes and media reports that exposed the ties between public works contractors and lawmakers, including party-list representatives.

Amid public pressure, the President instructed Congress to prioritize passage of a party-list reform bill. The Senate is now deliberating on various proposals aimed at reorienting the party-list system to its original purpose.

The 1987 Constitution reserved 20% of House seats for party-list lawmakers, or those who represent national, regional, and sectoral parties. Party-list elections adopt proportional representation: The more votes a group gets, the more seats it can assume.

In the first party-list election in 1998, only “marginalized and underrepresented sectors” such as workers, farmers, urban poor, indigenous people, youth, and women were allowed to participate. In 2001, the Supreme Court ruled that party-list groups must represent marginalized and underrepresented sectors.

But in 2013, the high court reversed itself and decided that party-list groups “do not need to represent any marginalized and underrepresented sector.” 

This ruling “opened avenues for wealthy and politically connected individuals to lead party-lists without any substantive sectoral track record or genuine advocacy,” according to Namfrel.

After the high court’s ruling, political clans fielded candidates, easily winning party-list seats by mobilizing their political machines. All it takes to win a party-list seat is around 250,000 votes.

Opening up party-list representation to clans allows them to amass even more power than they already have. Lawmakers have considerable clout in deciding how public funds are distributed across government agencies, who then bid out contracts to private companies.

Getting appointed chair of the House committee on appropriations, in particular, could give a lawmaker wide discretion in deciding where public funds go. This committee is in charge of the national government’s spending bill.

In the 19th Congress, then Ako Bicol Rep. Elizaldy Co held the post. The Ombudsman eventually said that Co is a beneficial owner of Sunwest Inc., the top contractor for flood-control works during the same period he chaired the appropriations committee.

The Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act bans public officials from directly or indirectly having financial interests in any business, contract or transaction with the government. The Code of Conduct of Public Officials mandates that public officials divest from companies whose activities “could affect” the performance of their duty. 

The Omnibus Election Code prohibits electoral candidates from receiving campaign donations from government contractors, franchisees, and licensees.

“Everybody knows about it in Congress that many of their colleagues are contractors also, and that this is a prohibited activity,” Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, a former lawmaker himself, said in October 2025. His office is tasked with investigating public officers involved in wrongdoing.

“I don’t know if it’s known to them, or it’s just the impunity of it all that people don’t care anymore if it’s against the law because they think no one’s going to run after them. But it’s something we have to address,” Remulla said. 

Magbubukid Rep. Ferdinand Beltran, a member of the House appropriations committee, is one of the party-list lawmakers who are also contractors. He owns the Pampanga-based public works contracting company Ferdstar Builders Inc., according to its August 2024 general information sheet. 

Beltran’s wife, son and daughter-in-law are co-owners of 11-16 Construction Corp., another public works contractor. PCIJ found that a technical staff of the same company, Nikko Alfaro, donated P300,000 to Magbubukid’s 2025 electoral campaign.

Some party-list groups have indirect links to contractors. FPJ Panday Bayanihan Rep. Brian Poe, the son of former senator Grace Poe, is not a contractor, but records show that his party accepted donations of ₱500,000 each from government contractors Maynard Ngu and Joseph Quirante.

Ngu is the chief executive of Cosmic Technologies, Inc., a contractor for the Department of Education. In a Senate hearing last year, former public works undersecretary Roberto Bernardo alleged that Ngu is the bagman of Sen. Francis Escudero.

Meanwhile, Quirante is the chief financial officer of Octagon Concrete Solutions, a contractor for the Department of Public Works and Highways. He is a brother-in-law of Escudero. 

Brian Poe, now a vice chair of the House appropriations committee, also ran alongside Batangas contractor Mark Patron, the second nominee of FPJ Panday Bayanihan. 

Electoral reform groups and academics are lobbying for a range of proposals to revamp the party-list system, including:

• Requiring party-list nominees to have a documented track record of at least three to five years of sectoral advocacy within the sector they seek to represent (Namfrel).
• Conducting thorough background vetting and evidentiary public hearings on applicant party-lists (Namfrel).
• Disqualifying party-list nominees who hold interests in businesses with government licenses, franchises, or contracts (Legal Network of Truthful Elections or Lente).
• Mandating public disclosure of party-list campaign donations before Election Day, instead of 30 days after (Lente and (Namfrel).
• Barring relatives of sitting elective officials up to at least the second degree of consanguinity or affinity from being party-list nominees (Namfrel and Lente).

In addition, political science professor Alicor Panao has proposed removing the three-seat limit for party-list groups. Currently, a group can only secure three seats at most regardless of the percentage of votes it gets.

The limit, Panao said, betrays the concept of proportional representation, which means that the percentage of votes each party-list group garners should correspond to the number of seats it gets. If, for example, a group received 30% of party-list votes, it should also get 30% of available seats.

Panao said it also forces groups who may have similar advocacies to split into smaller parties to get as many seats, rather than consolidate into potentially larger and stronger parties.

A number of party-lists who have significant electoral bases have sustained their numbers or made comebacks in the 20th Congress.

The progressive Makabayan bloc still has three seats — one each for ACT Teachers, Gabriela and Kabataan. The social democratic Akbayan garnered the highest number of votes and secured three spots. The first-timer Mamamayang Liberal, the sectoral organization of the Liberal Party, also won a seat. 

Representatives of these groups have track records of organizing along political or sectoral lines. They have no ties to ruling political families. And they have no known links to contractors. But they are more the exception than the rule.

Professor Panao said educational campaigns on how the party-list system works must be sustained.

“Let’s simplify our technical knowledge. What should voters pay attention to? For example: If you’re voting for a party-list, you don’t look at the personalities behind it. So even if they dance, you don’t automatically vote for them. You read the platform, not the dance,” he said.

Panao said the challenge now is fostering ordinary citizens’ participation in politics beyond elections.

“If we really want to change our political system, are you willing to sacrifice? Are you willing to join a party-list group? Are you willing to take part in the party’s campaigns?” he said.—PCIJ.org

The research team includes Jodie Dayrit, Arabella Mariano, Molly Nocum, Klyde Charles Painor, Jenelle Raganas, and Raya Riego De Dios.

Aika Rey produced the data visualizations.

Read more: Five things to watch out for in the 20th Congress