Buhay may seek SC help on third seat

MANILA, Philippines - Party-list topnotcher Buhay Hayaan Yumabong (Buhay) is not ruling out the possibility of going to the Supreme Court (SC) if the Commission on Elections (Comelec) withholds its third seat at the House of Representatives.

Buhay second nominee and former Manila mayor Lito Atienza said they would exhaust all legal remedies if the Comelec will push through with its plan to give them only two seats and pull out the third to accommodate another winning party-list group.

“All of these are questions of law. I’m sure that SC will understand and will probably support our position,” Atienza said.

He said the move to withhold their third Certificate of Proclamation is baseless since Buhay is not a party to the petitions filed with SC by the Senior Citizens and Abang Lingkod party-list groups in questioning their disqualification by the Comelec.

“What SC said was that for the Comelec not to touch on the five remaining unfilled seats since they are still discussing the cases of Senior Citizens and Abang Lingkod. The order is clear... I don’t see any reasoning why Buhay’s seats will be reduced when we are the topnotcher,” Atienza said.

If Comelec issues a resolution that will implement the plan, Atienza said Buhay “will react also on legal grounds.”

“As of now, there is still no document (for us) to be contesting. So at this point, we have three seats,” Atienza said.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said the plan was to reduce the seat allocations for winning party-lists Buhay, Magdalo and An Waray in order to give the poll body leeway in case the SC rules in favor of the petitions of Senior Citizens and Abang Lingkod. – With Jess Diaz