Comelec bars 19 more groups from 2013 polls

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday announced that it had disqualified 19 more groups from running in the May 2013 mid-term elections.

Of the 19 groups, 14 existing party-lists have been cancelled their accreditation – Cocofed, Alliance of Advocates in Mining Advancement (Aama), Bayani, Abang Lingkod, Ang Agrikultura Natin Isulong (Aani), Agapay ng Indigenous People’s Rights Alliance (A-Ipra), AME, Greenforce, Firm 24-K, Action League of Indigenous Masses (Alim), Kaunlaran ng Agrikultura Asensadong Probinsiya Angat ng Bayan (Kaagapay), Alma, Social Movement for Active Reform and Transparency (Smart), and incumbent party-list Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (Anad).

The poll body, meanwhile, had decided that two other existing party-lists – Kabaka, and Alliance of Bicolnon Party – could participate as political parties but not as party-lists.

Comelec had said that three new applicants – Kalikasan, A-seamariners, and Edsa – had been denied their participation.

The latest announcement of the poll body brought to 56 the total number of party-lists the poll body had dropped so far – 49 existing party-lists and seven new applicants.

With the decision on Anad, the Comelec has so far disqualified seven party-lists that have sitting representatives in the 15th Congress — Mikey Arroyo’s Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP), 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 Kalikasan, A-seamariners, and Edsa, four new applicants — Alam, Ram Guardians, Alyansa para sa Demokrasya, and Association of Airline and Airport Workers — had also been denied accreditation.

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento told reporters that the common denominator in disqualifying the party-list groups was their non-compliance to the eight-point guidelines enumerated in the 2003 case of Ang Bagong Bayani v. Comelec.

In the Ang Bagong Bayani case, the Supreme Court issued guidelines ensuring that only those who belong to marginalized and underrepresented sectors can run for party-list seats in Congress.

Group of persons with disabilities to join party-list race

Meanwhile, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. also announced that it had granted the application of the group Pilipino with Disabilities (PWD), a party-list representing persons with disabilities, to participate in next year’s mid-term polls

“They are represented by Filipinos, all of them are disabled….Right now we don’t have a representation of the disabled,” Brillantes said in defending the poll body’s decision.

Sarmiento, in a separate interview, also noted that the group had nominees belonging to the sector they wished to represent. He added that the group also had a track record of working with and for persons with disabilities.

Black and White movement denied accreditation

Brillantes also announced that the Comelec’s first division under Sarmiento had handed out a ruling denying the civil-society group Black and White Movement accreditation to run in next year’s polls.

Election watchdog Kontra Daya, which had compiled a database of dubious party-lists groups that it submitted to the Comelec to help in cleansing the system, had identified Black and White Movement as among party-list groups seeking accreditation and whose future nominees included allies of President Benigno Aquino III.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda is a co-convenor for the Black and White Movement, an organization which claims to represent civil society groups calling for transparency and accountability in government. The group’s nominees for the 2013 polls include Leah Navarro, a member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB).

In a 12-page resolution, the division explained that the Black and White Movement ” fails to evidently show through its Articles of Incorporation, By-laws, history and track record that it represents and seeks to uplift the marginalized sectors of women, youth, and urban poor.”

Sarmiento said that the commissioners voted 2-0, two voted for denial of accreditation while one had no part in the voting.

“Its history and our study shows that Black and White is primarily an advocacy group for good governance,” Sarmiento said. He added that the party had no track record, based on the records presented, of representing the marginalized and underrepresented.

“The nominees do not belong to the multi-sectoral groups of underrepresented and marginalized that they claim to be,” he said.

Brillantes emphasized that he made the announcement regarding the group because of statements surfacing that the poll body was leaning towards yellow, referring to favoring President Aquino.

“I would like to make an announcement because there are statements claiming we’re yellow-leaning. We’re pink,” he said in jest.

Brillantes said that the ruling came out October 29 and that the group should file a motion for resolution (MR) with the Comelec for the decision to go up the poll body’s en banc. He said the group had five working days from the time they were given the decision to file the MR.

“If there’s an MR, I think we will be able to resolve it immediately. If they fail to submit an MR, they are considered disqualified,” he said.