NOT SO fast. Don’t print campaign posters with your designated number in the ballot just yet.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) gave this reminder to all party-list groups that participated in the automated raffle Monday to determine their placement on the official ballot that will be used in the 2016 polls.
The Comelec proceeded with the raffle of ballot slots even if 84 organizations have pending petitions before the full commission, asking that earlier rulings disqualifying them from the elections be reversed.
A total of 201 party-list groups were included in the automated raffle Monday but Comelec officials said the final list will be adjusted once they had promulgated the decisions on the motions for reconsideration before Dec. 25.
“What is determined today is the order. But that order can still go up depending on whether or not certain groups will be disqualified,” said Comelec Chair Andres Bautista, who led the raffle held at the Palacio del Gobernador in Intramuros, Manila.
“Even if you get a number today, this is subject to the decisions that will be made by the Comelec en banc in the subsequent days. There is no vested right in so far as that number is concerned,” said Bautista.
Election Commissioner Christian Robert Lim explained to the representatives of the party-list groups in attendance that once the en banc had resolved all the pending cases, the organizations whose petitions had been denied would be deleted and the rest would move up on the list.
“More or less you will now know what position you are placing and since we have published the list of party-lists that still have MRs (motions for reconsideration) or issues, more or less you can already make a forecast of what number you are headed to,” said Lim.
At the culmination of the automated raffle, the group Ang Bayaning Kawal at Pulis Incorporated (Abakap) party-list got the first slot on the ballot. But the group may just have to forfeit their No. 1 ranking should the full commission deny its motion.
Also in the Top 10 were Samahang Magbabasura Inc. (SMI); Agri-Agra Na Reforma Para sa Magsasaka ng Pilipinas Movement (Agri); Academicians, Students and Educators
Alliance Inc. (Asean); Gabay at Dangal ng Senior Citizens Inc. (Gabay ng Seniors); Ako Senior Citizen ng Pilipinas Inc. (Ako Senior Citizen);
Movement for Economic Transformation and Righteous Opportunities (Metro); Anti-Drugs Advocate, Laban ng Pamilyang Pilipino (Anti-Drugs Advocate); Abante Bicol Oragon Phil Inc. (Abo); and Tribal Communities Association of the Philippines (Tricap).