n From left: Quezon City political boss Belmonte has his SBP party-list, former health secretary Garin of Dengvaxia fame has her clan’s AAMBIS-OWA, and the Communist Party has its Bayan Muna, with Zarate as its representative. (His photo from a video when he was blocked by the military from attending the New People’s Army’s founding anniversary on March 29, 2017 in Surigao.)
I wrote in my column last Friday that more than half of the representatives udner the party-list system, created by the Constitution purportedly to give voice in the House to marginalized sectors, are multi-millionaires, led by the “Michael Romero, Ph.D.” (as his name appears in Congress) who claimed in his SALN a P7 billion net worth, and Emmeline Aglipay-Villar, property magnate Manuel Villar’s daughter-in-law, who reported a P1.4 billion net worth. (So far no party-list representative has communicated with me or this paper to refute the points I raised in that column.)