Some officials must be seeing red.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday conducted an electronic raffle to determine the order of the names of party-list groups that would appear on the official ballot for next year’s midterm elections.
The top spot went to the militant Bayan Muna, which the military considers a front for the Communist Party of the Philippines.
‘A’s’ and ‘1’s’
The Comelec introduced the raffle in 2013 to stop the practice of prefixing “A’s” or “1’s” to the names of party-list groups in the hope of making it to the top half of the ballot.
But some groups went ahead with the strategy just the same, although without happy results.
Mocha Uson’s AA-Kasosyo (Kasosyo Producer Consumer Exchange Association Inc.), for instance, landed the 134th place in Wednesday’s raffle despite the double “A” prefix to its name.
Uson, a former sexy dancer and Malacañang communication officer who resigned after a string of embarrassing blunders, is the first nominee of AA-Kasosyo.
Her group, however, may not end up last on the ballot.
A total of 181 groups were included in the electronic raffle, but only 134 sent representatives.
Tailenders
The Comelec said earlier that party-list groups or organizations who would fail to send authorized representatives to the raffle would be considered to have waived their right to participate.
The names of these groups would be listed alphabetically after the group that drew the last spot in the raffle.
That means the names of the 47 groups that failed to send representatives to Wednesday’s raffle will be printed in alphabetical order after the name of AA-Kasosyo.
The other party-list groups that made it to the Top 10 were Kabalikat ng Mamamayan, Magkakasama sa Sakahan Kaunlaran, Philippine Educators Alliance for Community Empowerment Party, National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms Inc., OFW Family Club, 1 United Transport Koalisyon, KusugTausug, Global Workers and Family Federation Inc. and Ang Nars Inc. —Tina G. Santos