Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 16) — The House Committee on Suffrage and Electoral Reforms approved on Wednesday a bill filed by former president and now Senior Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo which seeks to penalize political turncoatism, or the practice of switching political parties often.
Discussions for the approval of House Bill No. 488 ended swiftly since the House of Representatives had already passed the measure on third and final reading in the 18th Congress.
Aside from penalizing party switching, Arroyo’s bill seeks to strengthen the Philippine political party system by institutionalizing electoral campaign financing reforms and providing financial subsidies to accredited parties.
The bill defines political turncoatism as the “change of political party affiliation by a party member a period of one year before or after any national elections.” Switching parties will only be allowed in the second year of a three-year term.
Should the bill become a law, party members who jump to another party within the prohibited period “shall be deemed to have forfeited their elective office.” They will also be disqualified from running for any elective post in the next succeeding election and cannot be appointed to any government post in the next three years.
Arroyo’s bill also proposes that political turncoats be required to refund all funds they received from their former political party, plus a 25% surcharge.
