Party-list group front of tobacco industry?

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) was asked yesterday by anti-tobacco group Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Alliance (FCAP) to disqualify a party-list organization for allegedly being a front of the tobacco industry.

In a letter to Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes, FCAP president Roberto del Rosario said the Agrarian Development Association (ADA) should not be allowed to run in the 2013 elections because their nominees are “closely identified with the tobacco industry.”

“It is an insult to genuine marginalized groups that a tobacco industry-backed organization like ADA was allowed to misrepresent itself as a legitimate party list movement. The tobacco industry’s imprint is all over ADA and its nominees. The Comelec should immediately disqualify this group,” he said.

ADA, which seeks to represent farmers, has named as its nominees former deputy House speaker Eric Singson; his son, Ilocos Sur. Rep. Eric Singson Jr.; Grace Kristine Singson Meehan; Rodolfo Salanga, a long time president of the Philippine Tobacco Institute; and Blake Clinton Dy, who operates the Anglo-American Tobacco Corp.

“The four nominees of ADA belong to the affluent, the influential and the powerful by reason of their individual or familial wealth or the political and economic ties they have honed and developed through the years. They are neither marginalized nor underrepresented. They are rich people who use the poor, marginalized sector, in the hope of gaining a seat in Congress,” Del Rosario’s Aug. 27 letter stated.

FCAP reminded the Comelec that under Section 2 of Republic Act 7941 or the Party-List System Act, the nominees of the sectoral parties must “belong to marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties.”

“This is not just a clear misrepresentation of the agrarian sector but a direct assault on our electoral process. The tobacco industry and its beneficiaries in business and in government should not be allowed to make a travesty of the very noble intent of the party-list election which provides an avenue for the marginalized sector of society to have a voice in government,” Del Rosario added.                      – Shiela Crisostomo

The Thailand-based Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) had also expressed concerns over the “intrusion of the tobacco industry” in Philippine politics by fielding and funding a “pseudo party-list organization.”

“From being the strongest lobby in Asia, the tobacco industry in the Philippines is now positioning itself to enter government to quell efforts by health advocates to push for tobacco control efforts aimed at reducing cigarette consumption and saving kids from smoking,” said SEATCA project director for SEATCA’s Southeast Asia Initiative on Tobacco Tax Dr. Ulysses Dorotheo.