The lawyer of party-list group Buhay Hayaan Yumabong (Buhay) on Friday protested the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) decision to allot only two congressional seats to it, after the Supreme Court directed the electoral body to “reserve seats” for the party-list group Senior Citizens.
Almost two weeks after the national midterm elections, a municipal coordinator of Anakpawis partylist group was gunned down in Mawab town in Compostela Valley last Saturday morning.
Only two or three of the 12 disqualified party-list groups may eventually make it to Congress, Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Saturday.
A poll watchdog said Friday that the Commission on Elections gave other non-marginalized groups it had disqualified from next year’s midterm elections “legal ammunition” when it accredited at least 16 partylist groups linked to President Benigno Aquino III and his predecessor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Some 38 groups claiming to represent farmers, school drop-outs, foreign exchange dealers, drivers and women will not get the chance to run for reserved party-list seats in Congress in the May polls, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
If he had his way, election chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said he would like the wealthy individuals barred from joining the party-list elections.
Another party-list group has asked the Supreme Court to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from disqualifying it from the May 2013 elections, saying the poll body has denied it due process.
A group of journalists wanting to participate in the party-list elections next year has accused Commission on Elections officials of allegedly trying to extort P3 million from them in exchange of their group’s accreditation.
