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Thursday, June 03, 2004
Party-list rep from Cebu may lose seat
CEBU CITY -- Six veterans of the so-called "parliament of the streets" and the son of presidential aspirant Brother Eddie Villanueva are joining Congress this year as winners of the country's third party-list elections so far.
But two groups with links to Cebu have yet to break into the winners' circle.
These are the Philippine Coconut Producers' Federation (Cocofed), which sent Cebuano Rep. Emerito Calderon to the Lower House in 2001, and the Trade Union Congress Party (TUCP), which no less than President Arroyo endorsed this year.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) proclaimed Wednesday 15 victorious organizations, after canvassing 12.63 million votes cast in the party-list system.
More groups may be added to the list as the canvassing continues.
As of Wednesday, Comelec filled up 23 of over 50 seats reserved for the party-list in the House of Representatives.
One of these will be for incumbent Rep. Emmanuel Joel Villanueva, the first nominee of the Citizens' Battle Against Corruption (Cibac) and a son of the evangelist and presidential candidate.
Top 3
Like Cibac, the top three performers in the party-list elections this year are already represented in the present Congress.
The three groups, which gained the maximum three seats each, are Bayan Muna, with 1.2 million votes; the Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (Apec), with 933,356 votes; and Akbayan Citizens' Action Party, with 849,103 votes.
Returning to Congress are Akbayan's Reps. Loretta Ann Rosales, a former political detainee, and Mario Aguja. They will be joined by the peace advocate and former broadcaster Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel.
For Bayan Muna, the National Democratic Front founding member and ex-political detainee Satur Ocampo will return to the Lower House for three more years. His fellow nominees are prominent young activist Teodoro Casiņo Jr. and Joel Virador.
After topping the party-list elections in 2001, Bayan Muna split up into separate groups, as a strategy for gaining more seats.
But its campaign was blocked by National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales, who accused Bayan Muna and five allied organizations of being fronts for communist rebels.
TUCP struggles
With Wednesday's proclamation, Bayan Muna and its allied groups Anakpawis and Gabriela now have at least six seats in the Lower House.
Former Bayan Muna congresswoman Liza Maza, for example, is going back to the House this year, but this time representing Gabriela.
Including Gabriela, eight of the 15 groups proclaimed are new winners, while the rest won in the 1998 or 2001 party-list elections.
A total of 66 groups competed this year, compared to 123 groups in 1993 and 154 groups in 2001.
Previous winners that have yet to win a seat include the women's group Abanse Pinay, Cocofed and Sanlakas.
Cocofed gained the most number of party-list votes in Cebu Province, with 61,621. It took 12th place in Cebu City.
TUCP, which is linked to the homegrown Associated Labor Unions, landed in the top five in both Cebu City and Province, but has so far failed to win a seat based on nationwide tallies.
A group must gain at least two percent of the votes cast in the party-list elections to win one House seat.
Ocampo and Rosales had filed separate bills seeking changes in the party-list law, including the removal of the provision that limits winning parties to three seats.
The 15 winners proclaimed yesterday represent, among other sectors, the women, workers, volunteer educators, veterans, cooperatives and the Warays.
Their delegates to the Lower House will enjoy the same pay and privileges as district lawmakers.
(June 3, 2004 issue)
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