THE Commission on Election (Comelec) allowed Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, son of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as a legitimate representative of Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP) in the House of Representatives.
AGP seeks to represent the sectors of security guards, unorganized groups of taxi, FX taxi, jeepney and bus drivers, vendors, small scale businessmen and jobless individuals.
On Monday, the Commission en banc, with a 4-2-1 ruling, denied the petition seeking to disqualify Arroyo to represent AGP.
Four commissioners validated the legitimacy of Arroyo's nomination as representative of a marginalized sector.
But two commissioners, Rene Sarmiento and Gregorio Larrazabal, said Arroyo does not belong to the group he seeks to represent.
Sarmiento noted that Arroyo belongs to the former First Family, has finished his second term as member of the House of Representatives, and also served as a vice governor of Pampanga.
"It is common knowledge that respondent Arroyo does not belong to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors that Ang Galing Pinoy seeks to represent," he reiterated.
Former Bayan Muna representative Satur Ocampo, one of the petitioners of the disqualification case against Arroyo, said they will appeal the decision of the Comelec to the Supreme Court.
The disqualification petition was filed by Ocampo and former Gabriela Representative Liza Maza.
"We are determined to protect and foster the intent of the 1987 Constitution to enable truly marginalized sectors to be represented in Congress by their own members, not by big politicians purporting to speak for them," Ocampo told Sun.Star.
But Representative Teddy Casino of the same party-list group said the decision of the Comelec en banc contradicts its earlier ruling on the Ang Kasangga case.
The poll body earlier disqualified the first two nominees of Ang Kasangga, saying that the two do not belong to the ranks they wish to represent.
Comelec is yet to decide on the disqualification case against 1-United Transport Koalisyon's (1-Utak) first nominee, former Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes. (FP/Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)