PBA Partylist

Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta (transl. Force of the Heroic Athlete) also known as the PBA Partylist is a political organization which has partylist representation in the House of Representatives of the Philippines. It aims to represent the interest of Filipino sportspeople.^[1]

PBA Partylist
Leader	Margarita Ignacia Nograles
President	Mark Aeron Sambar
Chairman	Jericho Nograles
Headquarters	Quezon City
Colors	Blue
Sector represented	Sports
Seats in the House of Representatives	1 / 63 (party-list seats only)
Website
http://pbapartylist.org/
Politics of the Philippines Political parties Elections

History

The PBA Partylist ran in the 2007 elections but failed to win a seat.^[2]

In the 2010 elections, it was endorsed by professional boxer Manny Pacquiao who was also the organization's chair at the time.^[2] PBA spent ₱80 million the most among candidate partylists in that elections, although this was still within the spending limit of ₱3 per registered voter or ₱150 million^[3] The organization managed to win a seat in the 2010 elections.^[4] During the 15th Congress, the PBA filed a bill proposing the creation of a Department of Sports but the proposal did not become law due to a lack of time.^[5]

The PBA Partylist lost representation in the Congress after it failed to secure at least a seat in the 16th Congress in the 2013 elections.^[5] The group regained representation in the following Congress after it garnered enough votes to win two seats in the House of Representatives.^[6]

The organization generated controversy in February 2024 as its members admitted to bribery in Davao City during their campaigning for Constitutional reform in the Philippines through the People's Initiative.^[7][8]

References

1. "PBA Party-list : Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta". Library of Congress. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
2. Llanto, Jesus (November 29, 2009). "Pacquiao endorses athletes' group for party list". ABS-CBN News.
3. "Pacquiao's PBA biggest party-list spender". ABS-CBN News. May 29, 2010. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
4. Santos, Reynaldo Jr. (March 18, 2020). "17 partylist groups in Congress barred in 2013?". Rappler. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
5. Baquero, Elias (March 2, 2016). "Party-list group to help athletes". Sun Star. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
6. Santos, Tina G. (May 20, 2016). "Winners of 59 seats in party-list race announced". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved October 21, 2020.
7. G, Herbie (2024-02-03). "Davao witnesses link PBA party-list workers to 'deceptive' Cha-Cha initiative". RAPPLER. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
8. "People in Davao 'deceived' into signing people's initiative forms – barangay officials". MindaNews. Retrieved 2024-02-04.