A MILITANT group has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to block the entry of Juan Miguel “Mikey” Arroyo in the 15th Congress.
In a five-page motion, Akbayan Representative Walden Bello asked the SC to resolve its previous petition disqualifying Arroyo to represent the Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP) due to his alleged failure to comply with the Comelec requirements for party-list groups.
Early this week, the poll body ruled that the nominee need not to be marginalized for as long as “he is a bonafide member of the party-list organization whose members are marginalized or underrepresented.”
“This supervening event renders likely the possibility that Arroyo will represent AGP, even pending a final resolution of the case at bar,” Bello said.
Akbayan earlier filed its petition three days before the May 10 elections, seeking to enjoin the poll body to compel the AGP to disqualify all its nominees.
The group argued that Mikey failed to comply with Section 6 of Comelec Resolution No. 8807 requiring party-list groups to submit documentary evidence proving that their nominees “truly belong to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors.”
Bello said the arguments made in their earlier petition will be rendered “moot, nugatory and unlitigated, in the absence of a final determination of the case.”
“It will result in the trivialization of Rules of Procedure with which other candidates have complied, and the bastardization of a process meant to ensure that the spirit of the Party-List law is reflected in letter and practice, and its intent fully realized,” he said.
Interviewed during the filing of their motion, Bello said the SC’s lack of action on the issue coupled with the recent decision of election body prompted them to file a new urgent motion to rule with finality on the legality of Arroyo’s membership in the 15th Congress.
“Comelec and Ang Galing Pinoy are at fault here. This is not even a question of whether or not Mikey represents the marginalized. The fundamental issue is Arroyo’s failure to provide documentary evidence proving his link to the sector,” he said. (JCV/Sunnex)