CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The Sanduguan Farmers Association (SFA) lauded the Supreme Court (SC) for its new parameters in party-list accreditation.
In a decision dated April 2, the Court said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it denied the accreditation of 54 groups for the May 13 elections.
“This is a great development for party-list groups,” SFA said in a statement from Butil Farmers party. It could be recalled that SFA launched a manifesto to support the Butil Farmers’ Party after the Comelec considered it for disqualification in the 2013 polls.
Butil’s accreditation as a party-list group has been reinstated by the Supreme Court (SC) in a status quo ante order issued against the Comelec’s disqualification of Butil, according to reports from national media.
The SFA is mobilizing a signature campaign reiterating their support for Butil programs and advocacies “as a legitimate farmer representative group.” The group said that the farmer sector is an obvious marginalized sector needing proper representation in Congress. The group said that Butil Farmers Party has been able to represent the needs of the farmers in the country since 1998.
“The Butil Farmers Party is the legitimate farmer sector representative that focuses on the needs of farmers in terms of livelihood, health and education,” the SFA said in a statement.
The Sanduguan Farmers Association said that the Supreme Court’s new accreditation list would greatly help party-list groups.