The party-list system, as defined by the Party-List System Act (RA 7941), is a mechanism of proportional representation in the election

of representatives to the House of Representatives from national, regional and sectoral parties or organizations or coalitions thereof registered with the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) (Sec. 3a). strictly speaking, the party-list system is a way of electing representatives to Congress based on proportional number of votes, with its ultimate aim that of assuring a sufficient in the government of the disadvantaged groups (Tangkia and Habaradas 2001). Under the 1987 Constitution, the electorate can vote for certain party-list organizations in order to give voice to significant minorities of society that would otherwise not be adequately represented through geographical district. From 19871998, sectoral representatives were appointed by the President.

BASIC FEATURES
Based on RA 7941 and the 1987 Constitution, the party list system in the Philippines has the following basic features: Twenty percent allocation. The party list representatives shall constitute 20% of the total number of representatives including those under the party list. Two percent threshold. For a party or organization to be entitled to one seat, it must obtain at least 2% of the total votes for the party list system. Three-seat limit. Section 11 of RA 7941 specifies that a qualified party would be entitled to a maximum of three seats. Proportional representation. The additional seats that the parties are entitled to are computed in proportion to its total number of votes (Fermin 2001). The determination of what parties are allowed to participate, who their nominees should be, how the winners should be determined, and the allocation of seats for the winning parties had been the subject of several Commission on Elections (COMELEC) and court cases, and is a source of controversy ever since the party-list election was first contested in 1998.

DETERMINATION OF SEATS ACCORDING TO VOTES

Since the signing of the Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party-List System Act into law on March 3, 1995. Voters can vote one party via a closed list; votes are then tallied nationwide as one at-large district. The Act clearly states that the number of sectoral representatives should not surpass the 20% total number of representatives. The law provided that each party that has 2% of the national vote be entitled one seat each, and an additional seat for every 2% of the vote thereafter

until a party has three seats. This means that at a party can win the maximum three seats if it surpasses 6% of the national vote. The law was first used in the 1998 elections, although several parties did meet the 2% quota needed to get at least one seat, they did not fill up the required 20% allocation for party-list representatives stated in the constitution. Furthermore, the votes won by parties that exceeded more than 6% we considered wasted. Ateneo de Manila University mathematics professor Felix Muga II was quoted saying; Any seat allocation formula that imposes a seat-capping mechanism on the party-list proportional representation voting system contradicts the social justice provision of the 1987 Constitution. (Ordoez 2009) Any vacancy will be filled up by the person next in line in the list; in cases where a seated sectoral representative switches parties, that representative will lose one's seat and the person next in line in the list shall assume the seat.

Veterans Federation Party et. al. vs. COMELEC

In 2000, the Veterans Federation Party (VFP), and several other party-lists sued the COMELEC which led a case in the Supreme Court. This resulted in the court ruling a changed on the way the seats are allocated for winning parties. The court came up with the following procedure on how to determine how many seats a party wins. First, the party with the highest number of votes gets at least one seat. It can win additional seats for every 2% of the national vote until it reaches the six-seat limit. (Dizon 2007) Therefore:

where: TPs is the number of seats of the top party. g is the percentage of votes garnered by the sectoral organization,

For the other parties surpassing the 2% threshold, they all automatically win one seat; additional seats will be won according to the following formula.

: where: S is the number of seats PV is the votes for the party TP is the votes of the top party. TPs is the number of seats of the top party.

The product, disregarding integers, is the number of additional seats for the party. Prior to the adopting the "Panganiban formula," the court considered applying the Niemayer formula used in the allocation of seats in the German Bundestag. However, since R.A. 7941 limits the maximum number of seats for each party to three, of the existence of a 2% quota, and that 20% of the seats can be filled up, the court instead devised the formula above to ensure that the 20% allocation for sectoral representatives would not be exceeded, the 2% threshold will be upheld, the three-seat limit enforced and the proportional representation be respected. The formula was first used in determining the result of the 2001, and was first applied in the 2004 elections. The use of this formula by the COMELEC had been labeled by certain groups as to "annihilate independent voices in the House," according to Akbayan representative Etta Rosales. The court upheld this in subsequent cases, such as the Partido ng Manggagawa vs. COMELEC and Citizens' Battle Against Corruption vs. COMELEC.

BANAT vs. COMELEC

In 2007, another party-list group, the Barangay Association for National Advancement and Transparency (BANAT, now Barangay Natin!) sued the COMELEC for not proclaiming the full number of party-list representatives (they were not among on those who were proclaimed winners). As with the other cases, the Supreme Court condensed all the cases to one case. The court ruled on April 21, 2009 that the 2% election threshold unconstitutional, and stipulated that for every five legislative districts created, one seat for sectoral representatives should be created; this thereby increased the sectoral seats in the 14th Congress from 22 to 55; the Supreme Court, however, upheld the 3-seat cap. To determine the number of seats for sectoral representatives, the formula for the quotient is:

where: S is the number of seats allocated for sectoral representation, D is the total number of district representatives, and D / 0.8 is the total number of members of the House.

To get the first guaranteed seat, a sectoral party or organization should at least get 2% of the total votes cast for partly list elections. The formula for the quotient is:

where: g is the percentage of votes garnered by the sectoral organization, V is the total number of votes cast in the party list representation, and P is the total number votes of the sectoral organization.

Therefore:

If the total number of guaranteed seats awarded is less than the total number of seats reserved for sectoral representatives (S), the unassigned seats will awarded in the second round of seat allocation. To get the number of additional seats, this formula will be followed.

where: R2 is the total number of additional seats awarded to the sectoral organization, S is the number of seats allocated for party-list representatives,

T1 is the total number awarded seats (R1) in the first round of seat allocation, and g is the percentage of votes garnered by the sectoral organization.

Note: R2 should appear as whole integer. If the total number of seats awarded after two rounds is still less than the total number of seats reserved for sectoral representatives (S), the remaining seats will be assigned to sectoral organizations next in rank (one seat each organization) whose R2 result is 0 until all available seats are completely distributed.

where: T3 is the total number of sectoral organizations next in rank (in Round 2) to be given with one seat, S is the number of seats allocated for party-list representatives, T1 is the total number awarded seats in the first round of seat allocation, and T2 is the total number awarded seats in the second round of seat allocation.

In 2010, there are 57 party-list seats being contested. Akbayan Citizens' Action Party won 1,061,947 votes, with 29,311,294 valid votes. Akbayan therefore received 3.62% of the vote. First round:

R1 = 1 since 0.
Second round: A total of 25 parties had at least 2% of the vote.

R2 = 1.1584 Disregarding decimals, R2 = 1

Both rounds:

S=1+1=2 Hence, Akbayan won two seats in the House of Representatives.