Ex-Gabriela Member Flags Constitutional Breach in Party-list Seat Allocation

MANILA — “This proclamation raises a constitutional red flag.” This was the warning of Arian Jane Ramos, a former Gabriela member and former CPP-NPA cadre, of what she sees as a dangerous deviation from constitutional limits and democratic norms. She urged for strict adherence to the Constitution, faster resolution of disqualification cases, and a sober reckoning within the women’s movement.

Ramos took issue with recent pronouncements from the Commission on Elections (COMELEC), citing Chair George Garcia’s argument that assigning 64 party-list seats “complies” with the law since 63 would “fall short.” She countered that the 20% cap on party-list seats is an absolute maximum, not a minimum to hit, pointing to BANAT v. COMELEC.

“That clause was meant to empower marginalized sectors such as workers, peasants, indigenous peoples, women and youth,” she said. “It was not meant to give government agencies a free hand to bend the ceiling.”

“Chair Garcia’s argument that ‘64 at least complies’ because 63 ‘falls short’ sounds appealing but it flips the principle on its head,” she added. “You can never justify going beyond a hard cap, even by 0.4 percent… Once you break a constitutional ceiling to accommodate one group, you erode the trust that sustains the entire system.”

Proclamations amid pending cases

Ramos also pointed to Gabriela Women's Partylist’s pending disqualification case. She noted that under the Omnibus Election Code, proclamation can proceed while a case is unresolved, absent a final disqualification or a Supreme Court restraining order.

But she called the delays in Gabriela’s case, which dates back to 2019, “inexcusable.” “That is more than enough time for COMELEC to conduct hearings and issue a final ruling,” she said. “When the issues… touch on matters of national security or possible links to an armed movement, the need for prompt resolution becomes even greater.”

From Gabriela to the Mountains

Ramos credited many Gabriela women for sincere work, but said the group operates within a “legal mass movement” that serves the underground armed struggle. “That blurring of advocacy and armed politics is something people deserve to know about so they can make informed choices.”

Inside the NPA, she said promises of women’s liberation clashed with reality. “The slogan ‘women hold up half the sky’ does not automatically produce equality or safety,” she said. Abuse, she added, was often handled internally by transferring offenders, not seeking real accountability. “There is no space for genuine legal or judicial redress… The same patriarchal patterns we fight in society persist in the underground.”

‘Real progressivism’ and safeguards in Congress

“Women deserve movements that are fully committed to their rights and their safety, free of hidden agenda,” Ramos said. She urged Congress to protect itself from infiltration and to avoid becoming a shortcut for groups linked to armed struggle.

“Granting a seat in Congress to a group connected with the CPP–NPA is not just a procedural issue,” she warned. “It risks legitimizing the very system of recruitment and deception that continues to endanger our youth and our communities.” She recalled losing colleagues to the conflict, including Josephine Lapera, a Gabriela member who became an NPA fighter and died in a 2017 encounter in Nasugbu, Batangas. “Her life, like so many others, is a cautionary tale. When representation is weaponized, women and youth become casualties rather than beneficiaries.”

Ramos’s message is twofold: Respect the constitutional ceiling on party-list seats, and resolve disqualification cases quickly, especially where security concerns are raised. “Congress must be a sanctuary for peace, for people’s voices, and for women’s empowerment,” she said. “We need party-lists that will raise women’s voices without feeding them to the fires of armed conflict… That is the kind of representation worthy of Congress and worthy of the Filipino people.”