Does the name James Christopher Napoles ring a bell? 

The son and co-accused of the pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles is the No. 1 nominee of Kaunlad Pinoy, one among 156 party list groups vying for seats in the House of Representatives in the May 12 elections.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s son Andrew Julian Romualdez is the top nominee of Tingog Sinirangan. Tingog’s sixth nominee is the Speaker’s wife Yedda Marie, its incumbent representative in the chamber.

Before Sen. Grace Poe ends her term in June, her son Brian Daniel Poe Llamanzares will take a crack at a House seat as the No. 1 nominee of FPJ Panday Bayanihan, named after her father, the late action-movie star Fernando Poe Jr.

This is what the party list system has become.

‘Hijacking’ the race

Some party list groups have nominees charged in court with corruption, or are tied to political clans, according to the election watchdog Kontra Daya.

Of the 156 party list groups, 86 have been flagged by Kontra Daya for “hijacking” the race. These include 40 that are tied to a dynasty, 25 to big business, and 18 to the police and military, and 11 with dubious advocacy, seven whose nominees have corruption cases, and nine with insufficient information.

This means that 55.13%, or more than half of the party list groups, do not represent the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, Kontra Daya said.

“If you look at it historically, the party list system, which is supposed to protect the marginalized, ends up marginalizing the already marginalized,” Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao said in a recent forum at the College of Media and Communication, University of the Philippines Diliman.

Arao recalled that the system engendered an “awkward situation” in 2019, when 1-Pacman party list Rep. Mikey Romero and Kabataan party list Rep. Sara Elago stood as the wealthiest and poorest members of the House.  

At present, 4PS, which advocates for poverty alleviation, is leading pre-election surveys. Its No. 1 nominee is House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, who was also implicated in the pork barrel scam except that the case against him was dismissed.

Its second nominee is Jonathan Clement Abalos II, a nephew of former interior secretary and now senatorial candidate Benhur Abalos.

Its third nominee is Edward T. Cigres, director of Pai Li Holdings Inc., which is reportedly owned by Michael Yang, the controversial economic adviser of then President Rodrigo Duterte.  

“Ok, [they’re] leading, but you can’t deny the fact that their advocacy is very dubious. Their name alone will spark doubts,” Arao said. “It’s known that the Abaloses are behind this.”  

Other party list groups have links to big business. For example, Pacifico Discaya, the second nominee of Pinoy Ako, is the owner of St. Timothy Construction Corp. (STCC).

The construction company is part of a joint venture that forged a P17.9-billion deal with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in March 2024 to automate this year’s midterms. The joint venture also included Miru Systems and Centerpoint Solutions Technologies.

STCC backed out of the joint venture in September 2024 after Discaya’s wife Sarah, who is running for mayor in Pasig City, was threatened with disqualification by the Comelec.  

“The people deserve to know that kind of information. Do they have the right to run?” Arao said, adding:

“Well, if you’re part of the marginalized and the underrepresented, [running] would be good. But remember, that’s St. Timothy Construction Corp. We’re not just talking here of millions of pesos, but of billions of pesos. They are part of big business.”  

Still others such as Duterte Youth, have ties to either the police or the military, or have dubious advocacies, according to Kontra Daya.   

In the previous election, seven out of 10 party list groups did not represent the marginalized sector. But this year’s lower figures should not be cause for celebration. 

“Does it mean that things are getting better now? No,” Arao said. “The numbers really don’t matter because whether it’s 55%, 70%, 80%, or 90%, it’s still a sizable number.”

“We have to denounce the recurring hijacking,” he said. 

Pushing for reform

According to Arao, Kontra Daya is pushing for pending bills in Congress to reform the party list system. It is not pushing to abolish the system, which would only further “entrench the elite and powerful” in the House, he said. 

It’s an uphill battle, “but the bottom line is, we have to push for it,” Arao said, adding that strong public pressure on lawmakers might do the trick.

In case this fails, Arao said, Kontra Daya is also open to challenging the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in 2013 declaring that political parties do not have to represent the marginalized sector to join the party list race.

He said empirical data would show that the outcome of the high court’s ruling was the “bastardization” of the party list system to the disadvantage of the marginalized sectors.

“In fact, we’ve had conversations about it for the longest time, as far back as 2019. I guess right now, there are no more excuses. We will not commit to doing so, but we’re very open [to the idea],” he said. 

Added Natalie Pulvinar, executive director of the Center for People Empowerment in Governance: “Maybe we can ask our colleagues in the legal profession to help us out on how to go about it fast.”

Read more: Political dynasties also swarm the party list elections