Comelec excludes ex-MMDA spox Pialago's party-list from 2022 ballot
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 5:07 p.m.) — The Commission on Elections has dropped Malasakit Movement Inc. from the final list of party-list candidates for the 2022 national polls.
In a notice signed by Clerk of Commission Genesis Gatdula, the Comelec said the group has been excluded from the list of candidates to appear on the ballot "in view of the resolution of its pending incident."
"Malasakit Movement was denied accreditation because they failed to meet the requirements for a sectoral party-list organization," Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez explained in a virtual presser later on Wednesday.
"They were unable to prove that they were representing marginalized, underrepresented sectors," he added.
Under the Republic Act 7941 or the Party-list System Act, a sectoral party refers to "an organized group of citizens belonging to any of the sectors… whose principal advocacy pertains to the special interests and concerns of their sector."
Former Metro Manila Development Authority spokesperson Celine Pialago, a nominee of the party-list, said their legal team will look into remedies for her to still participate in the party-list elections.
During their filing of the Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance in October, Pialago said their party-list will "push for standard benefits for barangyan [sic], kagawad, tanod frontliners and barangay health workers to improve their quality of living.”
Prior to aspiring for a House seat, Pialago courted criticism with her comment that students at her former school were required to join rallies for grades.
Her fellow alumnae disputed the claim and Miriam College said that "in being trained to respect opposite choices taken by others, MC students also learn to appreciate dissent as part of a healthy democracy while being reminded to act in loving charity, regardless of differences, by Christ’s symbol, the Chi Rho in the center of the (school's) logo."
In 2020, she was also criticized for her remark over the outpouring of sympathy over the plight of detained activist Reina Mae Nasino whose three-month-old child died. She later apologized to Nasino but said she would not take back her “drama serye” comment. — Kristine Joy Patag
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