There are legitimate reasons why the Commission on Elections (Comelec) needs to review the disqualification case against the LPGMA party-list group. Imagine what will happen if other business groups would emulate the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association (LPGMA) and field their respective party-list in the coming elections?
First, the House of Representatives could be turned into a shopping mall or marketplace, with different types of businesses having their own representatives in the legislative body. With money, resources, and machinery at their disposal, business groups can easily win seats in Congress via our party-list system.
Second, the regulators would be virtually “regulated” by the businesses they are regulating.
How? Imagine the case of the LPGMA, whose members are being regulated by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Energy (DOE).
With a seat in Congress, the LPGMA party-list has now the power to: 1) push measures that will be followed by the DTI and DOE in regulating them; 2) question, slash, or even block the passage of the budget being sought by DTI and DOE; 3) summon and investigate the regulators via congressional probes.
I may have missed other things that party-list groups in Congress can do to regulators, but the extent of their legislative power can go as far as they can imagine.
It’s a good thing that other business groups are not following in the footsteps of the LPGMA party-list. I believe that they respect the intent of the Party-List System Act, as mentioned in Section 2 of Republic Act 7941, which is to “enable Filipino citizens belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties, and who lack well-defined political constituencies but who could contribute to the formulation and enactment of appropriate legislation that will benefit the nation as a whole, to become members of the House of Representatives.”
With five months to go before the October 2021 deadline for the filing of certificate of candidacy for the 2022 synchronized national and local elections, we can’t help but make a public appeal to the Comelec to review the disqualification case I filed against the LPGMA as a party-list group in 2013.
LPGMA now occupies one House seat after Comelec upheld the qualification of the group as a party-list in the May 2013 election. And up until today, I still cannot figure out the electoral body’s basis in deciding to uphold LPGMA’s accreditation.
I don’t see any reason this group of LPG dealers needs representation at the House, unless its members just want to have clout in the Legislative Branch.
Keep in mind that while performing their regulatory functions to protect the welfare of consumers, the DOE and DTI are also looking after the interest of the LPG marketers. These agencies are also making sure that they are getting government support to allow their businesses to thrive.
So, having that legislative clout for LPGMA through its representation at the House gives the group an undue advantage. It gives the group the power to intimidate—through its legislative power—regulators whose policies and actions are proving to be detrimental to the interest of its members.
I find it absurd for Comelec to have missed all these considerations when it decided to uphold LPGMA’s qualification as a party-list group in 2013.
I know there were two dissenting opinions that time, one of which is a lengthy discourse from no less than Chairman Sixto Brillantes.
What if we are right all along in seeking the disqualification of LPGMA and the dissenting opinion of Brillantes should have been the Comelec’s decision?
We need to correct this immediately. This is why I am calling on the current Comelec commissioners to review the disqualification case versus LPGMA in the interest of justice and fairness, given the fact that the May 2022 elections are getting closer.
Comelec must not turn a blind eye to this appeal. Those who know what is right can’t be perpetuating what is wrong, which is tantamount to dereliction of duty.
If there is a need to formally file a petition to review the case, I would. But I am sure the good Comelec commissioners will find it in their hearts to take the initiative, consistent with their oath to safeguard the sanctity of our electoral system. The documents, including the Brillantes dissenting opinion, are in their files.
Allowing business groups like the LPGMA to have a seat in Congress makes them far superior to the government agencies regulating them.
I keep on saying that we should not let the administrators compete with the businesses they are administering. Imagine what would happen if Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, for instance, would put up its own business and compete with its own locators inside the Subic Freeport. This is unfair competition.
But the case of the LPGMA party-list having legislative powers is far worse than that. LPGMA is supervening the power of their own regulators, like DTI and DOE. There’s a big anomaly when we allow business groups to have the legislative power to make laws to be followed by government regulatory bodies that regulate them.
Comelec has the power to review and rectify this anomalous situation.
Dr. Jesus Lim Arranza is the chairman of the Federation of Philippine Industries and Fight Illicit Trade; a broad-based, multisectoral movement intended to protect consumers, safeguard government revenues and shield legitimate industries from the ill effects of smuggling.