Comelec disqualifies Mikey Arroyo’s Ang Galing Pinoy

Ang Galing Pinoy party-list Representative Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The party-list group of Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo, Ang Galing Pinoy,  is the latest to get the axe along with Alab ng Mamamahayag (Alam), the Commission on Elections announced Tuesday.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the two failed to meet the requirements for representing marginalized sectors in the House of Representatives.

Ang Galing Pinoy claims to represent security guards, tricycle drivers, farmers and small businessmen. Its representative is Mikey Arroyo, son of former president and incumbent Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who is among the wealthiest party-list lawmaker in the 15th Congress.

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento, in a separate interview, said that Ang Galing Pinoy was denied accreditation because its new nominees did not represent the marginalized sectors.

Based on the documents submitted by Ang Galing Pinoy, it has five new nominees.

“This is a recognition that the nominees should belong to the marginalized and underrepresented. Number two, you should prove your track record,” Sarmiento said. He did not name the five.

The Comelec earlier barred from joining next year’s midterm elections the following: Ako Bicol, 1st Consumers Alliance for Rural Energy (1-Care) and the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (Apec), Aangat Tayo, and Kapatiran ng mga Nakulong na Walang Sala (Kakusa).

It had also disqualified the following existing party-list groups: AGRI, AKMA-PTM, AKO AGILA, AKO BAHAY, PACYAW, PASANG MASDA, COFA, ARARO, KATUTUBO, OPO.

Aside from ALAM, three new applicants — RAM GUARDIANS, Alyansa para sa Demokrasya, and Association of Airline and Airport Workers — had also been denied accreditation.

Brillantes said that the formal resolutions on the disqualification of these party-list groups would be released Tuesday.

The decision of the poll body was final and appeals should be made at the Supreme Court, he said.

The Alab ng Mamamahayag party-list, meanwhile, did not have a track record prior to its application to run for the 2013 polls. Alam, whose top nominee is former National Press Club president Jerry Yap, claims to represent  professional media and that it has different regional chapters in Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao.

Sarmiento said that Alam “alleged to represent the multi-sectors but they have no track record in representing these multi-sectors.”

He also noted that alam figured in a controversy with the Comelec when it alleged that two of the poll body’s commissioners had asked for P3 million in exchange for its accreditation. An investigation, however, revealed that two workers from the Comelec, who claimed to be working for Commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph, were behind the alleged solicitation. Comelec dismissed the erring workers.

“Plus the allegation of the bribery. That there was bribery committed, but that was not proven in the hearing, because there’s none really,” he said.

“It does not speak well of the party list organization to make a serious allegation of bribery only to state openly that there is none, there is no evidence. Be careful with your allegations, names are involved,” Sarmiento said.

The Comelec has been reviewing the qualifications of new and old party-list groups in a bid to cleanse the party-list system, which has been criticized as being dominated by bogus organizations or by groups whose nominees are either multimillionaires, former government officials or members of powerful political clans.