Parties & Accountability in the Philippines

1998 elections culminated in the freest,

fairest, and least violent elections in the PH
o Fraud not as extensive as in past
contests
o Political violence also dropped to a
historic low compared to levels posted
in 1995 elections
o Successful conduct of 1998 elections
is owed to vigilance of the media,
NGOs (NAMFREL & SWS), and groups
of concerned citizens engaged in pollwatching

The elections as a turning point

o 1998 elections demonstrated
independent political power of the
lower class, as well as a shift from
ethnolinguistic & regionally based to
class-based voting
o High turnover in congress (Senate &
HR)
o New voting rule in party lists rather
than individual candidates, filling 20%
of House
o Party-list vote designed to make
political systems more representative
& ensure representation for poor and
marginalized groups

Civil society

o Despite active role of progressive

groups in policy making, lack of
progress is due in large part in policy
implementation
o Significant social-reform legislation
not adequately funded or
implemented because of the lack of
accountability of elected officials, who
are tasked with ensuring that reform
laws are applied (control budgets,
overturn reform through new
legislation, nominate & confirm
department heads who supervise &
execute law)
o PH exhibits symptoms of
unaccountable govt
Presence of clientist structures,
a product of land and wealth
inequality
Persistence of patrimonialism
politicians regard public office as
personal property
Weak party system
o Policies and legislative behaviors of
parties have been indistinguishable
and unstable
Parties lack of consistency
Unbridled party-switching by
politicians
o Parties were temporary alliances
designed to maximize election
chances of individual politicians

Impediments to party development

o Electoral practices and presidential
powers impeded development in premartial law parties
Write-in ballot system made
name recognition key to election
Unable to cast party-line votes,
bloc voting to reduce electoral
fraud but reduced significance
of party affiliation
Senators elected on national
basis rather than state level

Presidents control over budget

Enhancing Accountability
o Scrapping write-in ballots in favor of
listing candidates names and party
affiliations under the positions they
are running
o Restoring the potion of party-line
voting
o Senators should be selected from
discrete single-member districts
o Power over the budget must be more
evenly distributed between president
and congress