THE Liberal Party (LP) called the coalition of the Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Nationalist People's Coalition (NPC) a "bogus alliance" Wednesday.
“It was a ‘coalition in afterthought,’ formed to prop NP's bid to steal from the LP its right of being accredited as the dominant minority party in the May 10 national elections,” the LP said in a statement.
Both the LP, bannered by Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III for president and vice presidential bet Mar Roxas, and NP-NPC of Manny Villar and Loren Legarda have submitted petition to be accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as the dominant minority party.
The LP was named the dominant minority party during the 2007 senatorial elections.
It an opposition to the petition of NP-NPC saying that "petitioner NP-NPC Coalition clearly, is attempting not only to pull the rug from under LP's feet but to circumvent the law and make mockery of our democracy."
"The out-of-order petition filed with by this imaginary coalition scorns both the political party system and the electoral exercise, and sidelines the Filipino people's rights,” Noynoy's party stressed as it sought to dismiss the lumped petition for registration of the NP-NPC coalition and its accreditation as the dominant minority party.
LP pointed out that the NP-NPC coalition was formed only on January 28, 2010, six months after the deadline for registration of political parties through Comelec Resolution No. 8646.
The LP said the "bogus coalition" was formed only to meet the poll body's requirement that the dominant minority party should field the most number of candidates in the national and local level in the elections.
The dominant minority party status is likewise given to the party with the longest public services record and which has the sufficient organizational strength to launch a nationwide campaign.
As separate political parties, NP would field 7,393 candidates while NPC will have 3,435. Combined, the coalition will beat out the 7,945 candidates of LP.
NP and NPC merged publicly when Villar adopted Legarda as his running mate.
Comelec is tasked to accredit one dominant majority party, one dominant minority party, 10 major political parties, and two major local parties.
The political parties accredited will get a copy of the electronic returns, once the automated canvassing of votes begin on May 10, election day.
The dominant majority and minority parties also have the advantage of immediately monitoring the results since the automated machines will be transmitting the results to their respective servers.
Lakas-Kampi-CMD is the only party who seeks to be the dominant majority party.
Those parties who eyes to belong in the 10 major political parties are Ang Kapatiran Party, Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), Partido Demokratiko Soyalista ng Pilipinas, Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino, Akbayan Citizens Action Party, Bangon Pilipinas Party, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, Aksyon Demokratiko and Achievement with Integrity Movement.
Eyeing to grab the accreditation of the two major local parties are One Cebu from Cebu, PDP-Laban from Davao City, Partido Sandugo from Oriental Mindoro, and Adelanta Zamboanga Party from Zamboanga. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)