Kabayan Partylist, an abbreviation of Kabalikat ng Mamamayan (), is a political organization which has party-list representation in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

of the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The party-list that represents

marginalized Social exclusion or social marginalisation is the social disadvantage and relegation to the fringe of society. It is a term that has been used widely in Europe and was first used in France in the late 20th century. In the EU context, the Euro ...

sectors of the Filipino community, including the disabled, senior citizens, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), fishermen, farmers, and the poor. Kabayan was founded by Ron Salo in 2009.

History

Kabayan would be registered as a

party-list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

group with the

Commission on Elections An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

in 2009.

15th Congress

KABAYAN party list lost in the 2010 elections after it only got 110,085 votes or 0.38%. It was Kabayan's first attempt to seek a congressional seat.

17th Congress

KABAYAN finished sixth out of a total 115 party-list groups that ran. After a vigorous campaign by the first nominee, they secured two seats for the partylist in the House of Representatives.

18th Congress

During the 18th Congress, Kabayan had four representatives that filled the two seats it won. KABAYAN's founder Ron Salo filled in the first seat.

Harry Roque Herminio Harry Lopez Roque Jr. (; born October 21, 1966) is a Filipino lawyer, politician, and former law professor. He served as the presidential spokesperson of President Rodrigo Duterte from 2017 to 2018 and from 2020 to 2021. He was the pa ...

was the second nominee. However Roque would be expelled from Kabayan in January 2017 citing his "dishonorable behavior" during the House of Representatives inquiry in November 2016 regarding activities involving the illegal drug trade in the

New Bilibid Prison The New Bilibid Prison (NBP) in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, is the main insular prison designed to house the prison population of the Philippines. It is maintained by the Bureau of Corrections (Philippines), Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) under ...

where Roque and other legislator's were criticized for inappropriate line of questioning towards Ronnie Dayan, the former lover of then Senator

Leila de Lima Leila Norma Eulalia Josefa Magistrado de Lima (born August 27, 1959) is a Filipino politician, lawyer, human rights activist and law professor who is the representative-elect for Mamamayang Liberal, the sectoral wing of the Liberal Party. De ...

and alleged bagman. Roque would challenge his removal from the partylist through the

. Roque was appointed the

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

of President

Rodrigo Duterte Rodrigo Roa Duterte (, ; born March 28, 1945) is a Filipino lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022. He is the first Philippine president from Mindanao, and is the oldest person to assum ...

rendering his cases in the COMELEC for ouster moot and academic. Roque's successor Ciriaco Calalang died in office on September 23, 2018, and was replaced by Paul Hernandez.

19th congress

Dr.

Richard Mata Richard Tesoro Mata (February 5, 1972) is a Filipino pediatrician and media personality. Medical career Mata graduated from Davao Medical School Foundation, which he got his M.D. degree in 1997. He also got his Diplomate American Board M.D. ...

, a pediatrician and content creator was picked by the partylist to be one of their nominees. But due to not gaining of 2% treshhold vote, only Ron Salo is able to get a seat.

20th Congress

KABAYAN partylist supported Mata's Senate bid in

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

, even though Mata is running as independent.

Political positions

Kabayan's declared platform of core advocacies are summised in the acronym "KABAYAN+2" with the marginalized as their named primary target demographic. The three syllables of "KABAYAN" represents ''kalusugan'', ''pabahay'', and ''kabuhayan'' ('health', 'housing', and 'livelihood respectively). Right to education and

Overseas Filipino Workers Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) is a term often used to refer to Filipino migrant workers, people with Filipino citizenship who reside in another country for a limited period of employment. The number of these workers was roughly 1.77 million ...

' interests are represented in the "+2" portion of the acronym. They advocate for

right to health The right to health is the economic, social and cultural economic, social, and cultural right to a universal minimum standard of health to which all individuals are entitled. The concept of a right to health has been enumerated in international a ...

and legislation for

universal health insurance Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured access to health care. It is generally organized ar ...

coverage. They also aimed for a legislation which would create a

Department of Housing The Department of Housing was an Australian government department with responsibility for housing, including the administration of housing schemes and grants that existed between December 1963 and November 1973. Structure The Departm ...

and seek to promote capability-building in cooperativism and micro-financing for

micro, small and medium enterprises Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by many national agencies and international organizat ...

Electoral history

Representatives to Congress

References

External links

* * {{Philippine political parties Party-lists represented in the House of Representatives of the Philippines