Comelec proclaims 14 party-list groups

 MANILA, Philippines - Fourteen party-list groups were initially proclaimed yesterday by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) sitting as National Board of Canvassers (NBOC).

The 14 are the Buhay Hayaan Yumabong (BUHAY), Advocacy for Teacher Empowerment Through Action Cooperation and Harmony Towards Educational Reforms (A TEACHER), Bayan Muna (BAYAN MUNA), 1st Consumers Alliance for Rural Energy, Inc. (1-CARE), Akbayan Citizens’ Action Party (AKBAYAN), Ako Bicol Political Party (AKB), Abono Party-list (ABONO), OFW Family Club (OFW FAMILY), Gabriela Women’s Party (GABRIELA), Cooperative Natcco Network Party (COOP NATCCO), Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines (AGAP), Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC), Magdalo Para sa Pilipino (MAGDALO), and An Waray (AN WARAY).

Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. noted that the 14 groups obtained two percent of the votes cast for the party-list polls, guaranteeing them of one seat at the House of Representatives.

NBOC Resolution No. 0006-12 stated that the proclamation of the groups is “without prejudice to the allocation of additional seats, or the proclamation of other parties, organizations, or coalition which may later on be established to be entitled to one guaranteed seat and/or additional seat.”

The board also did not declare the number of votes obtained by the groups.

But based on the latest partial, official tally of the NBOC last May 20, BUHAY got 1,255,734 votes followed by A TEACHER (1,033,873); BAYAN MUNA (945,639); 1 CARE (931,303); AKBAYAN (820,351); AKB (761,115); ABONO (753,161); OFW FAMILY (735,854); GABRIELA (706,194); COOP-NATCCO (640,180); AGAP (588,095); CIBAC (578,320); MAGDALO (561,613); and AN WARAY (540,210).

The NBOC is expected to proclaim the other winning groups on Monday.   

A total of 58 House seats are available for party-list organizations in the 16th Congress.

According to Brillantes, the votes obtained by the 12 disqualified groups were not included in the computation of the votes for the 14 groups.

The poll chief admitted that the Comelec commissioners are still debating whether they should include such votes. “But personally, I believe we should not count their votes anymore.”

Among the 12 groups, only Senior Citizens had obtained two percent of the votes based on the latest tally. The group, which filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, got 671,916 votes, landing in 10th place.

Comelec records showed the nominees of the 14 groups are as follows:  BUHAY: 1. Mariano Michael Velarde Jr., 2. Jose Atienza Jr., and 3. William Irwin Tieng; A TEACHER: 1. Mariano Piamonte Jr., 2. Julieta Cortuna; and 3.  Nenita Habulan; BAYAN MUNA: 1. Neri Colmenares, 2. Carlos Isagani Zarate, and 3. Hope Hervilla; 1-CARE: 1. Edgardo Masongsong, 2. Michael Angelo Rivera, and 3. Concordio Quisaot; AKBAYAN: 1. Walden Bello, 2. Ibarra Gutierrez III, and 3. Angelina Ludevice-Katoh; AKB (Ako Bicol): 1. Christopher Co, 2. Rodel Batocabe, 3. Alfredo Garbin Jr.; ABONO: 1. Conrado Estrella III, 2. Francisco Emmanuel Ortega, and 3. Erika Caitlin Dy; OFW Family: 1. Roy Señeres Sr., 2. Juan Johnny Revilla, and 3. Roy Señeres Jr. GABRIELA: 1. Luzviminda Ilagan, 2. Emerenciana de Jesus, and 3. Lucia Francisco; COOP-NATCCO: 1. Cresente Paez, 2. Anthony Bravo, and 3. Herminio Hernandez; AGAP: 1. Nicanor Briones, 2. Rico Geron, and 3. Arnel Marasigan; CIBAC: 1. Luis Lokin Jr., 2. Bibiano River Jr., and 3. Antonio Manahan Jr.

MAGDALO: 1. Gary Alejano, 2. Francisco Ashley Acedillo, 3. Manuel Gabochan; AN WARAY: 1. Neil Benedict Montejo, 2. Jude Acidre, and 3. Victoria Isabel Noel.

DQ of 5 groups final

The Comelec also issued yesterday a resolution that the disqualification of five party-list groups is already “final and executory.”

The five are Coalition of Senior Citizens in the Philippines, Inc. (SENIOR CITIZENS); Philippine Coconut Producers Federation, Inc. (COCOFED); Abang Lingkod Party-List (ABANG LINGKOD); Binhi-Partido ng mga Magsasaka Para sa mga Magsasaka (BINHI), and Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD).

It so happened that Senior Citizens was in the top 10 of the party-list race with 671,916 votes, based on the latest canvass report released by the Comelec last Monday.

The Comelec ruled that the five groups are already out of the race owing to the lack of action from the Supreme Court (SC) on their petitions against their disqualification.

“Almost six days (excluding Saturday and Sunday) have lapsed from the date of receipt by the groups of the resolutions (disqualifying them). However, no temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction was issued by the SC of their petitions to this date,” the Comelec said.

The resolution showed that ABANG LINGKOD was able to receive a copy of the Comelec resolution last May 11 while BINHI received it on May 14. SENIOR CITIZENS, COCOFED, and ANAD all got their copies last May 15.

The groups have filed petitions for certiorari with the SC “praying immediate issuance of temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction.” The high tribunal has not acted on these. 

The groups are among the 52 organizations disqualified by the Comelec but managed to secure status quo ante orders from the SC before the May 13 polls.

ABONO, the party-list group based in Rosales, Pangasinan had emerged as the number one sectoral organization in the vote-rich province of Pangasinan garnering 378,690 votes in the last May 13 polls.

Comelec records in their Pangasinan provincial office showed that ABONO topped the party-list race in the province followed by APEC with 43,202 votes.

Senior Citizens party-list group placed third with 32,654 votes, followed by BAYAN MUNA (29,157), OFW Family (28,159), and A-Teacher (26,929), AVE (20,918), ACT-CIS (20,814), BUHAY (19,858) and MAGDALO (18,154).

ABONO was founded by Rosendo So and first joined the party-list elections in 2007.

Marino Salas, provincial election supervisor of Pangasinan, said a total of 1,343,904 actually voted in Pangasinan in the May 13 polls out of the 1,651,814 total registered voters.

Truth body backed

Catholic bishops are backing calls for a truth commission to look into glitches in the last election.

Cubao Bishop Honesto Ongtioco said “it would be good to have one truth commission to investigate the issue to maintain the credibility and integrity of the electoral process.”

Malolos Bulacan Bishop Jose Oliveros said an independent body, different from the Commission on Elections (Comelec), would have more credibility.

“I am only wondering about the uniform transmission in the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machine (of) 70-30 in favor of the administration,” he said.

“Here in Bulacan, the results were almost similar to the national report, it seems like a statistical improbability.”

Archbishop of Iloilo Angel Lagdameo, a former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said he favors a truth commission to investigate reports of irregularities.

Evangelist Eddie Villanueva of  Bangon Pilipinas Party has asked President Aquino to form a truth commission to look into the glitches. – With Jess Diaz, Eva Visperas, Evelyn Macairan