A member of the Nationalist People?s Coalition (NPC) has questioned the party?s reported alliance with the Nacionalista Party (NP), saying it did not go through the consultation process as mandated by its rules and that even party leaders had dismissed its genuineness.

Former General Santos City Rep. Lualhati Antonino Tuesday testified at a Comelec hearing in behalf of the Liberal Party, which is challenging the NP-NPC coalition?s bid for dominant minority party status.

Antonino, who has been with the NPC since 1995, said she was ?shocked and surprised? by news reports last February that the NPC and NP, which has Sen. Manuel Villar for its presidential candidate, have formed a coalition for the May 10 national and local elections. Villar?s vice-presidential candidate, Sen. Loren Legarda, is a member of the NPC.

The LP, which is fielding Senators Benigno ?Noynoy? Aquino III and Manuel ?Mar? Roxas II as its presidential and vice-presidential candidates, has filed a protest with the Comelec.

The LP claimed that the NP and NPC only formed an alliance last January to boost the number of their candidates, which is one of the criteria for obtaining dominant minority status.