SC urged to expel LPGMA from House

MANILA, Philippines - A petition in the Supreme Court (SC) is seeking to have the LPG Marketers Association Inc. (LPGMA) expelled from the House of Representatives.

The Federation of Philippines Industries Inc. (FPI) asked the SC to void a March 24 Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision upholding LPGMA’s qualification to take part in the elections in May last year.

In an interview, FPI chairman Jesus Arranza said allowing LPGMA to keep its accreditation would encourage other business and moneymaking groups to join the party-list bandwagon.

“Nowhere in the party-list system or in the Constitution does it provide for a slot for the sector of businessmen, traders, marketers and retailers of LPG simply because we are not marginalized,” he said.

FPI said LPGMA must not be allowed a seat in the House of Representatives – now occupied by Rep. Arnel Ty – because it merely operates as a cartel, imposing and fixing the price of LPG in the Philippine market.

“While the Comelec declared that the LPGMA represents a sector that lacks a well-defined political constituency, it made no finding at all whether or not the majority of LPGMA’s members are small and independent traders and marketers of LPG,” read the petition.

“Neither did it make any finding as to whether or not LPGMA’s nominees are small and independent traders and marketers of LPG.” 

FPI said the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion in accrediting LPGMA despite its failure to prove its qualification as a sectoral party based on standards that the SC had laid down in a decision in April last year.

The FPI questioned Ty’s membership in the House when he and his supposed constituents are supposed to be subject to regulation by the Department of Energy (DOE).

“How can we expect the DOE to properly and effectively regulate the businessmen and traders belonging to the LPGMA when Congressman Ty has the power to summon and lambast even the secretary of the DOE?” FPI said.

In February last year, FPI asked the SC to stop the Comelec from allowing LPGMA to participate in the elections.

It questioned a Comelec resolution dated Dec. 13, 2012 that retaining LPGMA’s party-list registration.

Dismissing the petition, the SC saw no point in remanding to the poll body the complaint for cancellation of the LPGMA’s accreditation since the Comelec had issued another resolution that included it in the list of accredited party-list organizations allowed to run in the May 2013 elections.

The FPI filed a motion of reconsideration in July last year.

A month later, the SC reversed itself and resolved to grant the FPI’s motion.