Comelec poised to delist 6 more party-list groups

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

At least six “popular” party-list groups currently sitting in Congress can kiss next year’s elections good-bye.

Commission on Election (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. on Tuesday said the poll agency was ready to issue a formal resolution delisting several party-list groups that had failed to meet the standards set by law.

“There will be party-list groups with incumbent congressmen that will be axed for the 2013 elections,” Brillantes told reporters in an interview. “We will not allow them to join next year … There are six of these groups that have [nominees] sitting in Congress.”

He refused to identify the groups, however, until the Comelec finalizes the resolution

—which is expected to be issued today after all the commissioners sign the document.

Brillantes hinted the six groups—of the 35 party-list organizations getting the Comelec boot—were “well-known.”

The groups’ nominees will be allowed to complete their terms until June 30, 2013, but their parties will not be allowed to run in next May’s elections.

These groups “should not have been accredited in the first place,” he said.

“They don’t qualify,” and they have also failed to comply with the law to continue existing as party-list organizations, he added.

For the first time since the introduction of the party-list system in the country in 1995, the Comelec is reevaluating old and new party-list groups and screening their nominees in accordance with the law.

Under Republic Act No. 7941—the Party-list System Act—only 12 marginalized and underrepresented sectors of society can seek congressional representation.

These are the labor, peasant, fisher folk, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, elderly, handicapped, women, youth, veterans, overseas workers and professionals sectors.