The Commission on Elections (Comelec) joins the long list of controversial newsmakers of 2009 with its consecutive decisions that blatantly attacked individuals and groups who are known political foes and critics of Malacanang.
Target No. 1: Partylists
Comelec was placed in the hot seat when it discriminated and disqualified gays and lesbians' group “Ang Ladlad” citing immorality as grounds. Philippine media had a heyday covering the exchange of heated comments between Comelec Commissioners and Ladlad leader Danton Remoto who even said that Congress already has a number of gay and lesbian members.
This decision became the opening salvo for disqualifying bonafide partylist groups as the poll body started shooting down opposition-identified personalities and groups after they filed intent to participate in the upcoming elections.
The group Magdalo and Filipinos for Peace, Justice and Progress Movement (FPJPM) were among the groups identified with the opposition that were consecutively dropped from Comelec’s list. Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero earlier slammed Comelec for its systematic and deliberate moves against anti-Arroyo groups.
Meanwhile, three of the biggest and more popular partylist groups allied with the progressive bloc have condemned Comelec’s unfair and twisted resolutions to bar them from participating in the elections.
Partylists Migrante, Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE) have been consecutively delisted from the partylist race.
Courage president Ferdinand Gaite denounced the Comelec First Division’s claim that the union of government workers failed to prove its existence in majority of the country’s regions, and that it is a marginalized or under-represented sector. Regional Comelec officials erroneously referred to Courage as “Kalinga” in verifying the existence of Courage. “Whether it is a malicious mistake or not, it is quite unacceptable to us that three supposedly intelligent Commissioners have affixed their signatures without even noticing such error,” said Gaite in an article from Bulatlat.com.
This malicious mistake “perplexed” the state employees’ partylist. The decision stated that Courage only have chapters in areas such as Lanao del Norte, Rizal, Makati and in the first and second districts of Quezon City. “It is ridiculous that Comelec has found Courage Partylist members in those areas while claiming that we do not exist in places where we have legitimate chapters,” Gaite added.
Comelec also claims that like Courage, ACT Partylist failed to prove their national constituency. According to UP Professor Antonio Tinio, national chairperson of ACT, the group already filed their appeal before the Comelec to prove their existence in 10 regions and 15,000-strong membership.
Meanwhile, Comelec delisted Migrante Partylist saying the group failed to get 2 percent of the total partylist votes in 2001. Since it did not participate in the 2004 elections, they also did not get the required minimum percentage of partylist votes needed.
Migrante chairperson Connie Bragas-Regalado asserted that this decision obviously shows Comelec’s bias when it previously allowed five partylist groups — Visayas Farmers Party, Sagip Kapwa Foundation, Visayas Association of the Philippines, Pinoy Overseeas Party and Barangay Association for National Advancement and Transparency — to participate in the 2004 elections even if they failed to obtain 2 percent of the total partylist votes in 1998 and did not participate in the 2001 elections.
Migrante, Courage and ACT are members of the newly-formed progressive coalition MAKABAYAN.
In a statement, Makabayan assailed Comelec for “consciously wanting to keep groups critical to the Arroyo regime from participating in the 2010 elections.” Makabayan co-chair Maita Gomez expressed that “Comelec has become a stooge of the administration in repressing groups critical to Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,"
The three disqualified groups are with other progressive groups in the said coalition - Bayan Muna, Anakpawis and Gabriela, partylists which has established representation in the lower house since the 2001.
Gomez explained that Migrante, COURAGE and ACT-Teachers are qualified to run in the party-list polls, and clearly represent marginalized and disenfranchised sectors. The groups also have broad membership in the country. Migrante maintains massive following among overseas Filipino workers and their families. Both COURAGE and ACT have nationwide membership among the sectors they represent and have lead the advocacy for the rights of retired and active government employees and school teachers, respectively.
Gomez further said "there is a clear double standard in screening the party-list applicants. In the past elections, Comelec blindly approved the participation of dubious party-lists connected with the administration or the military, while being unreasonably strict to progressive party-lists."
Among the dubious party-lists allowed to participate are groups linked to the paramilitary like Rep. Jun Alcover's Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD), Gen. Jovito Palparan's Bantay and the Kasangga Partylist led by the president’s sister-in-law, Lourdes Arroyo .
Target no. 2: Local opposition leaders
Through successive adverse resolutions, Comelec has reversed the victories of those who staged a ‘David vs. Goliath and good vs. evil battle’ in the previous 2004 and 2007 elections.
First was the annulment of proclamation of Isabela Governor Grace Padaca who won with 17,007 votes lead in the 2007 gubernatorial elections. In its ruling, the Comelec Second Division unseated Padaca and said that Benjamin Dy, a long time political warlord in Isabela, had actually won against Padaca by 1,051 votes based on a recount.
In a 12,000-page resolution (where 682 pages were duplicated/identical ), the poll body ruled that Dy won the 2007 elections with a thousand votes more than Padaca on the premise that Padaca’s camp allegedly cheated by having a single voter fill up 40-50 ballots in contested precints.
Second was the electoral protest against Pampanga Governor Ed Panlilio filed by known Arroyo ally Lilia Pineda. Given the implausible decision over Padaca’s case, Among Ed’s supporters expected that Comelec may come up with a similar decision reversing Panlilio’s victory.
Padaca ended the Dy family’s 34-year dynasty in Isabela while Among Ed won against the Pinedas who are suspected gambling lords in Pampanga. Both opponents of Padaca and Panlilio are good friends of the president.
Padaca and Panlilio were not singled-out in this series of election result reversals. In Bulacan, Governor Joselito Mendoza was also unseated with the result of a high-profile recount. The decision ruled that Mendoza’s opponent, Lakas-Kampi-CMD member Roberto Pagdanganan won by a margin of 4,321 votes.
LP standard bearer Senator Noynoy Aquino earlier condemned this “systematic decimation” of the Malacanang to its critics. Another LP member and senatoriable, Neric Acosta, called this as a “blitzkrieg” against opposition LP leaders of large provinces (which are of course, consequently vote-rich areas). Padaca and Mendoza are new members of Aquino’s party.
Joining the list of the “targets” among LP members is Naga City Mayor Jesse Nobredo. Also with the Second Division, the case against Nobredo was filed by Jojo Villafuerte who argued again that Nobredo is not a Filipino citizen. Nobredo, who is on his fifth-term as city mayor, is of Chinese descent but the first case filed against him was made moot and academic when the case was decided after he served his term.
Hello, more Garcis?
These and many more Comelec anomalous resolutions will continue to draw flak from the public as election day approaches.
Lest we forget, Comelec and its former Commissioner Virgilio Garcilliano are still not cleared on the “Hello Garci scandal” that tainted the results of the 2004 presidential elections. In 2007, opposition senatorial candidates got zero votes in Maguindanao, a known lair of the administration.
Mysteriously, the cases against Padaca, Panlilio, and Nobredo, as well as the disqualification case vs Ang Ladlad landed in the Second Division, headed by Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer.
Ironically, President Arroyo’s election lawyer, Atty. Romulo Macalintal came to the rescue of Padaca and cautioned that “unless the Padaca case is corrected, it is doubtful if Comelec could run clean elections in May.” Romulo added that a “syndicate” within Comelec had victimized Padaca, where “bandits” specialize in nullification through allegedly manufactured votes.”
But asked whether Mrs. Arroyo had a hand in Comelec’s shameful decisions, Macalintal said that the president is “too busy to bother” with these reversals.
Meanwhile, political analyst Ramon Casiple surmise that “the administration is placing its people in government a few months before the polls so they can access government resources for the campaign and ensure victory of the administration in rich-vote areas.”
With this kind of electoral commission, how can we expect for a cleaner 2010 automated elections and a brighter Philippine society?
Photo by MVI. Taken from Flickr. Some rights reserved.
Thursday, 07 January 2010 04:01 PM Amihan Euza Mabalay
Source Link: http://www.thepoc.net/politi-ko/politiko-opinions/3511-in-the-hot-seat.html
