Migrante protests delisting from partylist polls

October 15, 2009 19:49:00
Jerome Aning
Philippine Daily Inquirer


MANILA, Philippines—An alliance of Filipino migrant organization protested the delisting of its party-list group by the Commission on Election for its failure to win or participate in the last two national elections.

Migrante International, registered as a sectoral party under the party-list system, called the Comelec decision “highly irregular” and “erroneous,” adding that the group would file an appeal.

“The decision is highly irregular since it veered away from the process where party-list groups are only removed from the list after due notice and hearing as provided by law. This time, however, the Comelec issued a resolution to remove 26 party-list groups first, then asked concerned parties to just submit written opposition, if there are any. This is unacceptable," Migrante chair Garry Martinez said in a statement.

The Comelec en banc issued on October 13 Resolution No. 8679, which ordered the removal of the 26 from its list of accredited party-list groups.

The poll body cited Section 6 Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party-list System Act of 1995, which enumerated eight ways how a party-list could be de-listed or disqualified.

According to Section 6, a group would be de-listed if it failed to participate in the last two preceding elections or failed to obtain at least two percent of the votes cast under the party-list system in the two preceding elections for the constituency in which it registered.

Martinez said that in the case of Migrante, the group participated in the 2004 elections but did not win. It decided not to participate in the 2007 polls, saying it needed to strengthen its organization in its target constituency.

According to Martinez, Section 6 provides that a party-list group would be delisted if it did not participate in the elections twice in row, or was defeated in the elections twice in a row.

Four of the 26 delisted groups, namely AK, Abanse! Pinay, PCDO-ACTO and PGBI also had the similar experience as Migrante’s, he added.

“In addition to the lack of due process, the Comelec, likewise, committed a gross mistake when it removed five of the 26 groups just because they failed to get two percent in one election and was not able to participate in another election. This clearly negates the qualifier in the provision wherein the instance of failure should be committed twice and in two preceding elections,” Martinez explained.

The group claimed Comelec was “getting desperate” in shortening the list of participating party-list groups in the 2010 elections. There are about 150 groups that participated in the last 2007 elections while more than 200 new party-list groups filed their petition for registration in 2009.

The big number of accredited party-list groups has been a concern for some poll watchdogs, which said the machine-readable ballots to be used in the election would have to be long enough to accommodate all groups.

Martinez, however, said Comelec had no one to blame but itself because it was the sole agency responsible for approving registrations.

"The reduction of the numbers of participating party-list groups should not be done at the expense of the true and legitimate representatives of marginalized sectors,” he said.

The 1987 Constitution allots 20 percent of the seats in the House to party-list representatives.

A party-list group may either be a national, regional or sectoral party, organization or coalition representing Filipinos belonging to marginalized and under-represented sectors. It must win at least two percent of the votes cast for the party-list race nationwide in order to be eligible to a seat in the House of Representatives.


Source: http://politics.inquirer.net/view.php?db=1&article=20091015-230261