Poll watchdog backs disqualification of 2 party-list groups

MANILA, Philippines–Election watchdog Kontra Daya on Tuesday supported the Commission on Elections’ decision to disqualify two party-list groups representing electricity consumers.

The group said 1st Consumers Alliance for Rural Energy (1-Care) and the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives failed to show they represent the underrepresented and marginalized sector, not simply because electricity consumers were not part of the sector covered by the party-list law.

“Of course, most electricity consumers are poor, but some are also rich and powerful like the big business and industrial users of power,” said Kontra Daya counsel Joven Evangelista in a statement on Tuesday.

The Comelec on Tuesday said it was canceling the accreditation of the two groups mainly because they were cooperatives and that there was no sector for electric consumers under Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party-list System Act.

Kontra Daya pointed out that the groups’ representatives were among the multimillionaires in Congress, “further eroding their integrity as representatives of the poor and powerless.”

Last month, Kontra Daya submitted to the Comelec the results of an extensive research on sham party-list organizations and wealthy party-list lawmakers as part of its effort to help the election body cleanse the party-list system, which has been repeatedly abused by traditional politicians and elite interests.

Kontra Daya reported that 1-Care Representatives Michael Angelo Rivera and Salvador Cabaluna III have a net worth of P8.36 million and P7.49 million, respectively, in their 2011 statement of assets, liabilities and net worth. Apec Rep. Ponciano Payuyo has a net worth of P7.11 million.

Evangelista stressed that such “crucial details” were important to point out in every Comelec decision disqualifying the participation of questionable party-list groups to further strengthen the party-list system.

“The bottom line should be whether or not a concerned party is representative of the underrepresented and marginalized, no more, no less,” said the Kontra Daya counsel.

“Underscoring this point will help ensure that other groups that are genuinely a political party of the poor will be allowed to vie for a representation in Congress through the party-list system,” he added.

The group also vowed on Tuesday to be vigilant in monitoring Comelec’s ongoing cleansing of the party-list system to ensure that only bogus parties were dropped from the 2013 elections while those that truly deserved to participate will be spared from the purging.