Details

On March 8, 2007, KAS in partnership with the Ateneo School of Government and the Center for Asia Pacific Studies launched a new research study entitled “Electoral Reforms in the Philippines” by Prof Dr. Clarita Carlos of the University of the Philippines and presented the new Social Weather Station (SWS) Survey about the political parties in the Philippines. The joint launch and presentation was held at the Galaxias Hall at the Diamond Hotel, along Roxas Boulevard in Manila. The event was highlighted with a keynote speech by the Honorable Senator Richard Gordon, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and himself a passionate advocate of political party reforms.

With almost 200 invited guests attending the event, several current and significant issues surrounding the topic on electoral and party reforms were discussed by a panel of reactors which include former Congressman Florentino “Butch” Abad, renowned columnist Alex Magno, and Mr. Ramon Casiple, the Executive Director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms (IPER).

A workshop-cum-roundtable discussion was conducted for a more limited number of invited guests in a separate afternoon session in the same hotel. Various representatives from Lakas-CMD, the Liberal Party, the Nacionalista Party, PDP Laban, Aksyon Demokratiko, KAMPI, Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino, and party-list members from Abanse Ilongo, Ang Ladlad and others discussed and debated the issues on party system reforms and outlined their respective party’s plans in the near future.

The roundtable discussion is planned to be followed-up with a similar event in order to build on the consensus and agreements in principle arrived at in this event.

The survey results are available in the Publications section, likewise at the local KAS Website - www.kaf.ph - and at the respective websites of the Social Weather Stations (www.sws.org.ph) and the Ateneo School of Govenment site (www.asg.ateneo.edu).#