MANILA – With just days to go before the midterm elections, a poll watchdog will ask the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to maintain the disqualification of at least 35 party-list groups whose cases were earlier remanded by the Supreme Court (SC).
In a motion set to be filed next week at Comelec, lawyers of poll watchdog Kontra Daya argued that the disqualification of the party-list groups was based on the Ang Bagong Bayani case.
"Although Kontra Daya firmly maintains that the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the Ang Bagong Bayani case is the one which is in accordance with the spirit of the 1987 Constitution and the party-list law, the party-list groups should still remain to be disqualified even after the promulgation of the Supreme Court decision in the Atong Paglaum case," the motion reads.
On April 5, 2013, the High Court laid down six new parameters for party-list accreditation, making the party-list system open to sectoral groups and regional parties. The decision reversed a landmark 2001 ruling penned by then Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban on the Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party vs Comelec that set the guidelines on the accreditation of party-list groups and in choosing nominees who will sit in the Congress as representatives.
"(They) should remain to be disqualified to participate in the May 2013 election based on the factual findings of the Comelec after conducting a summary evidentiary hearing to determine their qualification and based on other grounds existing under the law and jurisprudence, aside from their failure to represent or belong to the marginalized and underrepresented sector," the poll watchdog said.
Kontra Daya also advised the Comelec to wait for the SC's resolution on the motion for reconsideration filed by incumbent party-list representatives appealing the new guidelines set in the Atong Paglaum case.
"Likewise, we respectfully urge the Comelec to file its own Motion for Reconsideration and defend its position before the Supreme Court, considering that there was no finding of grave abuse of discretion on its part," the group added.
In an earlier interview, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the poll body will likely allow at least 29 party-list groups of those remanded by the SC to participate in the May elections. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)