Comelec rejects Alam party-list anew

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday ruled to deny anew the accreditation as a party-list group of the Alab ng Mamamahayag (Alam), which earlier accused poll officials of extortion.

Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento admitted that the claim of Alam that poll body officials are trying to extort P3 million in exchange of accrediting their group became a factor in the decision.

“Factor yun. It doesn’t speak well of the organization to make a series of allegations of bribery and to state openly that there is no evidence,” said Sarmiento.

The group earlier tagged two poll commissioners to their bribery allegation. Comelec Second Division Chair Commissioner Lucenito Tagle and member Commissioner Elias Yusoph had denied the group's accusation.

Aside from the extort claims, the poll official said the commission en banc ruled to affirm the September 12 decision of the Second Division denying accreditation for the group mainly because of their lack of track record.

“They allegedly represent the multi-sectors kaya lang wala naman track record that they are representing yung multi-sector na ito,” said Sarmiento.

Based on the petition of Alam, aside from media men, they are looking to represent laborers, indigenous people, urban poor, victims of titling syndicates, and farmers.

Meanwhile, the Comelec reiterated that the Ang Galing Pinoy (AG) party list of Representative Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo has been disqualified to join the polls. Mikey is the son of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

According to Sarmiento, they are already set to promulgate the resolution on their long-standing decision to disallow AG from seeking a seat at the House of Representatives.

“The new nominees did not belong to the sector they want to represent and this Ang Galing Pinoy has no track record of representing this sector,” said Sarmiento, recalling contents of the resolution, which has yet to be released.

The present list of AG nominees includes Charlie Chua, Eder Dizon, Jerold Dominick David, Ryan Caladiao, Alan Trinidad, and Bernardo Corella Jr.

Last August, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said they will most likely delist AG among the possible PL bets after they have failed in submitting evidence that will support their claim of continuing compliance in the party-list system. (HDT/Sunnex)