Comelec disqualifies top 2 Kasangga nominees

MANILA, Philippines – The First Division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has disqualified the two top nominees of party-list group Ang Kasangga sa Kaunlaran Inc. after finding that they “do not belong to the marginalized and underrepresented sector the group claims to represent.”

In a resolution, First Division Commissioners Rene Sarmiento, Gregorio Larrazabal and Armando Velasco said they had “no recourse but to disqualify Teodorico Haresco and Eugenio Jose Lacson as they failed to refute allegations that they are not eligible to represent Ang Kasangga.

“The party-list system of representation has been prostituted in the past by some unscrupulous individuals using it as a backdoor to enter the hallowed halls of Congress,” the resolution stated.

“To allow again these individuals to use the party-list system as a means to join Congress is a blatant disregard of the spirit of the party-list system,” it said.

The petitioners to the disqualification case are Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes, Alliance of Concerned Teachers vice chair Benjamin Valbuena, Migrante chair Gary Martinez, Confederation for the Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees chair Ferdinand Gaite, Anakbayan chair Ken Leonard Ramos and Student Christian Movement chair Christina Guevarra.

They asked the Comelec not to allow Haresco to sit in the House of Representatives because he is a “big businessman and a government appointee,” having served as a director of the Philippine National Oil Co.

Poll watchdog Kontra Daya welcomed the Comelec decision as it could “serve as a precedent in disqualifying Mikey Arroyo, Angelo Reyes and others like them who do not really belong to the marginalized sector.”

Mikey, a former congressman of Pampanga and son of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is the top nominee of the Ang Galing Pinoy while Reyes, who used to be energy secretary, is the leading nominee of 1-Utak.

On the other hand, petitioners argued that Lacson is a three-term mayor of San Carlos City, Negros Occidental and top stockholder of Fidelity Stock Transfer Inc. and ATR Kim Eng Financial Corp.