MANILA - Vice President Leni Robredo said there should be a law to prevent politicians from quickly changing parties as she bemoaned how the system is "personality-oriented."

Robredo said the change of leadership at the House of Representatives and the Senate was the "reflection" of what "is wrong in our political system."

She said one should only align with a political party which shares his or her own beliefs and not due to who is in power.

"Dapat baguhin yung batas. Dapat i-strenghten yung political parties, magkaroon ng financial help yung political parties from the government. Ganun naman sa ibang bansa. Ibawal yung political turncoatism," she said.

(The laws must change. We need to strengthen political parties, give financial help to political parties. That's how it works in other countries. We should ban political turncoatism.)

In other countries, when a lawmaker is elected as a member of one party, he must stay in the same party throughout his term, otherwise pay penalties such as removal from power and disqualification from seeking public office, said Robredo.

"Dapat may ganun na batas para hindi ina-allow yung ganito. Kapag personality-oriented kasi okay iyon kung parating okay iyong pangulo. E iyong pangulo, nagkakamali din e," she said.

(We must have a law like that. If personality-oriented, that will always be to the president's advantage.)

She said her party, the Liberal Party, has always been small, but when former President Benigno Aquino III was in power, a lot came on board.

When Aquino's term ended, the members also soon trickled away, she said.

"Dapat sana iyong mga partido, ang pinaglalabanan mga paniniwala, 'di ba, mga prinsipyo. Yun yung nakakatulong sa pagka-malakas ng bansa natin bilang isang political entity," she said during an interview with ABS-CBN's "The Bottomline with Boy Abunda" that aired Saturday.