Comelec division OKs Lakas-Kampi merger

MANILA, Philippines - The Second Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) approved yesterday the merger of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD) and the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) as a “national political party.”

In an 18-page Resolution, the Comelec also junked the opposition of former House speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. to the unification, hinting that he was only sour-graping.

“Lakas-Kampi-CMD has fully shown that it has complied not only with the constitutional but also with the procedural requirements. It is undeniable that the two parties comprising the merged political party Lakas-CMD and Kampi are two of the national political parties with the most number of incumbent national and local elective officials,” reads the decision penned by Commissioner Elias Yusoph.

Aside from Yusoph, the other members of the Second Division are Commissioners Nicodemo Ferrer, presiding commissioner, and Lucenito Tagle.

Lakas-CMD-Kampi filed a petition last June 26 for accreditation with Comelec but De Venecia opposed it on July 21.

“The ‘interim officers’ of the parties have committed acts inimical to the interest and good standing of Lakas-CMD by scheming to keep the center of power in the hands of a cabal of people for their own personal and selfish ends,” said De Venecia in his opposition.

The former speaker said that his illegal ouster as party president was among the schemes that the merged party undertook.

“The merged party’s mode of amending the 1987 Constitution by pushing for a Senate-less constituent assembly was violative of Lakas-CMD’s objectives and that the merger with Kampi is against the principles and objectives of Lakas-CMD and is violative of the party constitution,” De Venecia said.

The interim officers whom De Venecia named as respondents in his opposition were President Arroyo, Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, Presidential Adviser Gabriel Claudio, Speaker Prospero Nograles, Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, Quezon City Mayor Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and congressmen Pablo Garcia, Simeon Datumanong and Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

He claimed that the Lakas-CMD national directorate, which approved the merger, had no authority to enter into such agreement “as the decision to do so is reserved to the national assembly.”

But Lakas-CMD-Kampi had belied all of his accusations.

In its decision, the Comelec said that De Venecia’s petition “should be treated as a belated opposition.”

“It must be pointed out that the date of hearing (July 16, 2009) for the accreditation of Lakas-Kampi-CMD was published five days before in three newspapers of general circulation. As such all persons who oppose the accreditation are deemed to be notified, at least constructively, of the date of the hearing and as such is required to appear or file his opposition on or before the scheduled date,” the poll body noted.

But despite this, De Venecia, or any intervenor for that matter, had failed to appear during the hearing.

“Any opposition, thus, submitted after the hearing should be considered as being filed out of time,” the Comelec added.

The resolution ruled that even granting that De Venecia’s petition could still be entertained, “the same should still be denied.”

“His alleged cause of action against the interim officers of Lakas-Kampi-CMD, that they committed acts inimical to the interest and good standing of Lakas-CMD, is a political and not justiciable issue over which the Commission has no jurisdiction,” it further stated.

The Comelec said that it had no power to prevent Lakas-CMD “from aligning themselves and their party with the administration party or from advocating Charter change through ‘Senate-less’ mode.” – With Marvin Sy