Residents belonging to the first district of Quezon City register as voters at a satellite office of the Commission on Elections on January 31, 2023. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/file

MANILA (2nd UPDATE) — Leading party-list groups in the recent surveys by Social Weather Stations (SWS) have ties with political clans, businesses, and military connections, according to poll watchdog Kontra Daya, as it claimed on Wednesday that most party-lists who joined 2025 midterm elections do not represent the poor.

Kontra Daya stated on its press release that it flagged 88 party-list groups or 55 percent of the running groups, which are 155 in total after Wage Hike party-list withdrew its bid.

Aside from supposed connections to political families and big businesses, it said it also looked on cases of "corruption, dubious advocacy, and insufficient information."

"Political dynasties appear to dominate 4PS (Abalos), ACT-CIS (Tulfo and Yap), FPJ Bantay Bayan (Poe Llamanzares with Dolor and Paton families) and Tingog Sinirangan (Romualdez). Big business interests are apparent in Ako Bicol (Sunwest) and TGP (Teravera; contractor of DPWH projects). Duterte Youth has military connections which explains its track record for red- tagging," the poll watchdog stressed.

Comelec rejects 142 party-list groups in 2025 polls

"It appears that 55.13 percent of those running do not represent the marginalized and underrepresented, especially in the case  of those linked with political clans and big businesses. Among the more than 1,500 party-list nominees, Tingog Sinirangan deserves close scrutiny for being linked with the Romualdez clan to which the current House Speaker belongs," it added.

Halalan 2025: Key dates, facts on Philippines' midterm elections

'LOOK BEYOND FIRST THREE NOMINEES'

Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao reminded the voting public to scrutinize all nominees of a party, and not only those who were listed as first three nominees — party-lists can have a maximum of three seats — as it warned against "members of political clans" which it said may be "listed in bottom numbers".

With many party-lists groups “hijacked by political clans and businesses”, Arao said the group that it had to denounce its recurrence.

“The stand of Kontra Daya is not to abolish the party-list system but to reform it,” he said.

In 2022, the group flagged 70% of party-lists for being identified with clans and businesses. The almost 20% decrease in its latest study, according to Arao, does not necessarily mean the system is getting better.

“It means our calling out certain interest groups is working. We’ve discouraged some rich and powerful groups in doing their dastardly act. The figure won’t really matter because it is still a sizable number,” Arao said.

The group’s monitoring faced challenges, as some party-lists provided limited information in the forms they submitted to the Commission on Elections.

“They did not provide specific details on the nature of their work, preferring to give only general details,” the group said.

Veteran political campaign strategist Alan German earlier shared his insights that party-list system somehow became a political tool for dynasties and businesses to enter politics.

"The party-list system is a recent phenomenon in the Philippine politics but just going around the Metro you can see some really, really outlier party-lists that make you scratch your head and make you think 'What minority are they representing? What group exactly, which interest of which group are they representing?" he said in an interview.

'NOT LIMITED TO SECTORAL REPRESENTATION'

Under Section 3 of Republic Act No. 7491 otherwise known as "Party-List System Act", a group of persons may register as a party by filing with Commission on Elections the organization's constitution, by-laws, platform, and program of government —  as long as they fall under sectors of "labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, elderly, handicapped, women, youth, veterans, overseas workers, and professionals."

The act aimed to give "Filipino citizens belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties" a way to enact laws and become members of the House of Representatives.

The Supreme Court in 2013 opened the party-list system to regional and national political organizations. It also ruled that nominees of party-list groups do not have to actually come from marginalized sectors.

This was the argument given by Ako Bicol Party-list in a statement on Thursday, a group that the election watchdog claimed has links to big businesses. It said the claim is “a misinterpretation of the law and a misunderstanding of the role of the party-list system."

The high tribunal also said nominees of a sectoral party "must either belong to the sector represented, or have a track record of advocacy for such sector."

“The decision broadened the interpretation of Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party-List System Act and clarified that both sectoral and non-sectoral parties—including political parties and organizations that advocate for national and regional concerns—are qualified to participate in the party-list system,” Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon stated.

“The decision also abandoned the previous requirement that only marginalized and underrepresented groups can run in the party-list elections, recognizing instead that organizations promoting their interests—regardless of whether their nominees belong to the sector—can validly participate,” he continued, maintaining he works not just for Bicolano but also for broader Filipino community.

Tingog Party-list was also among the groups flagged by Kontra Daya in its study as those with ties to political dynasties. One of the sitting lawmakers is Yedda Romualdez, the wife of House Speaker Martin Romualdez; while the first nominee is Andrew Julian, their son.

"At TINGOG, our focus has always been on delivering real service to the people. Our track record speaks for itself - we’ve passed more than 40 legislative measures into law just this term, addressing key issues that matter to Filipinos," House Assistant Majority Leader and sitting Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre said in a statement.

"We’ve also been consistently recognized as a top-performing party-list in Congress. On the ground, our TINGOG Centers nationwide provide direct assistance to those who need it most. More than just words, we get things done for not only for our constituents but for the Filipino people," he added.

RELATED VIDEO: