201 party-list groups included in ballot

MANILA, Philippines - The names of 201 party-list groups were raffled off yesterday to allow the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to determine their places on the official ballots in next year’s polls.

However, the list is not yet final as disqualified party-list groups that filed motions for reconsideration have been included, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said.

“We are using the automated raffle because we want the order to be fair,” he said.

“What is determined today is the order but that order can still go up depending on whether or not certain groups will be disqualified,” he said before starting the raffle.

The list is “without prejudice to the pending cases that are still with the commission,” Bautista said.

“If a party is disqualified, your position on the ballots may go up,” he said. “There is no vested right insofar as that number is concerned.” 

Party-list group Ang Bayaning Kawal at Pulis Inc. (ABAKAP) got the number one slot in the ballot.  

It was disqualified at the Comelec division level but filed a motion for reconsideration before the full commission.

Based on Resolution No. 10025, dated Dec. 3, a total of 101 party-list groups have qualified to run in next year’s elections. The others have been rejected but appealed the decision. 

This is the second time that the Comelec had done away with the alphabetical listing of party-list groups on the ballots to remove the advantage of those whose name started with either letter A or numbers. Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said they intend to resolve all the pending cases by Dec. 25.

He advised the party-list groups against printing their campaign materials before the poll body comes up with the official list of candidates.

“But more or less you will now know what position you are placing and since we have published the list of party-list who still have MRs/issues, more or less you can already make a forecast of what number you are headed to,” he said.  

No presidential, VP bets

The party-list coalition in the House of Representatives will not support candidates for president and vice president.

“We don’t have a presidential ticket, but we will endorse a full senatorial slate,” Citizens Battle Against Corruption (Cibac) Rep. Sherwin Tugna told reporters yesterday.

“We are aiming to mobilize at least 10 million votes for our senatorial candidates.” 

Tugna said their senatorial candidates “will come from members of our coalition and other political parties.”

They will include former Technical Education and Skills Development Authority director-general and former Cibac lawmaker Joel Villanueva, former Akbayan lawmaker Risa Hontiveros, and Reps. Samuel Pagdilao of ACT-CIS and Cresente Paez of COOP-NATCCO, he added.

Villanueva, Paez and Hontiveros are with the pro-administration ticket of Manuel Roxas II and Leni Robredo, while Pagdilao is with the slate of Sens. Grace Poe and Francis Escudero.

Officers of the party-list coalition led by Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe are scheduled to announce today the composition of their senatorial team.

The coalition is comprised of 40 party-list groups. The top 15 of them received about 11 million votes in 2013.