Ako Bicol lawmaker blasts Comelec anew

Ako Bicol partylist Representative Rodel Batocabe. congress.gov.ph

MANILA, Philippines — Ako Bicol party-list Representative Rodel Batocabe on Monday urged the Commission on Elections to stop from issuing the list of disqualified partylist groups on a piecemeal basis.

“If you will disqualify us, do it in one go,” said the lawmaker who likened their situation to having the Sword of Damocles over their heads.

“They are trying to scare us by taking out the party-lists which received the most votes in the past election. Right now everyone is fair game,” Batocabe said.

But Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption Partylist Representative Sherwin Tugna said that he does not see anything wrong with how the Comelec was going about cleansing the partylist system.

“Each partylist group is being assessed thoroughly by the Comelec. That is why every decision rendered by a commissioner who wrote the decision, it will be voted upon by the Comelec en banc,” he said.

Tugna believed that the Comelec made thorough reviews on evidence presented by the partylist groups and said that the “current release on a per week basis is already at a laudable pace.”