It is incumbent upon us to push for the immediate passage of the Political Party Development Bill if we are to have truly honest, free and credible elections next year.
The political party system in the Philippines remains weak and personality-oriented rather than based on ideology, program and platform. These parties are vital to strengthening Philippine democracy as they sustain popular support and build political constituencies for their party platforms and programs of governance.
Political parties play a crucial role in instituting and implementing policies to address the long-term needs of the people. Lastly, there is a need to strengthen the political party system in the country if we are to achieve genuine development and democratization.
The current Senate and House of Representatives versions of the Political Party Development Bill should be amended; and pertinent provisions, harmonized:
• Adopt the term “national political party” instead of all references to political
parties;
• Support a strong provision prohibiting Political Turncoatism with penalties;
• Support the creation of a campaign finance department at the Commission
on Elections (COMELEC);
• Impose stricter and well-defined standards and parameters for the
registration of political parties;
• Allocate a major share of state support fund for political party development
• Adopt an effective system for reasonable measures of allowable political
party campaign contributions and expenditures together with strong penalties on violations.
The development of interparty discussion mechanisms would promote wider space for democratic political participation and advance broad and meaningful citizen participation. It would also support intraparty democracy and strengthen party linkages.
The passage of this Political Party Reform Bill will change the way politics is being done in the country since it aims to strengthen the political parties by promoting party loyalty and by getting rid of patrons.000
