MANILA -- The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has formally approved the coalition of the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) through a resolution promulgated Monday.
To recall, the Liberal Party (LP) questioned the NP-NPC merger, saying it was a coalition in afterthought deliberately done to acquire the dominant minority party status.
In an 11-page petition, five commissioners voted in favor of the coalition while Commissioner Rene Sarmiento and Chairman Jose Melo dissented, citing the en banc, to begin with, had no power to decide on the registration of NP and NPC as a coalition.
Sarmiento also said that both NP and NPC members are known political rivals. NP and NPC merged when Loren Legarda was pronounced as the running mate of Senator Manny Villar.
“This is absurd if there was indeed an agreement to form a coalition because a coalition is as an alliance among individuals or groups, during which they cooperate in joint action, each in their own self-interest, joining forces together for a common cause,” Sarmiento said. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)