COURAGE PARTYLIST DECRIES COMELEC’S REJECTION, ELEVATES CASE TO SC

Submitted by courage_phil on Mon, 01/18/2010 - 07:34.

Leaders
of COURAGE Partylist today trooped to the Supreme Court to seek a
temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Commission on Election’s
resolution, denying COURAGE Partylist to participate in the 2010
partylist elections.

In
a 7-page resolution dated January 12, the COMELEC en banc upheld the
COMELEC First Division initial ruling which disallowed the militant
partylist, citing lack of national constituency and failure to submit
its Articles of Incorporation as grounds for denying its petition for
accreditation.

In
its petition to the Supreme Court, COURAGE Partylist assailed the poll
body’s irregularities in deciding on the petitions for accreditation of
different partylists. “We were able to meet the minimum requirement of
establishing our national constituency. While COMELEC only requires at
least nine regional chapters, we even submitted thirteen. As for the
Articles of Incorporation, we are quite bothered why the COMELEC
insists that this is a required document while it accredited several
partylists who like us did not present any Articles of Incorporation,”
claimed COURAGE Partylist National President Ferdinand Gaite.

The
group said that the rejection was politically motivated. “Perhaps, the
Arroyo government considers us a threat. They have witnessed our
capacity and strength to mount a national campaign. They know that we
can win a seat in Congress, that’s why they are trying to eliminate us
as early as possible,” Gaite added. 

Meanwhile,
the leader questioned the veracity of a number of partylists which the
COMELEC accredited. Pointing out the list of approved partylists with
almost half of it beginning with either ‘1’ or ‘A,’ Gaite said that
COMELEC mocked the partylist system by allowing groups who are either
dummies or fly-by-night groups and obviously do not represent the
interests of any marginalized and underrepresented sector. According to
him, COMELEC’s glaring incompetence and bias against anti-Arroyo forces
would even push the electorate to abhor administration candidates. “In
the end, their dirty tactics will work against them,” Gaite said.

Members
and supporters of COURAGE Partylist are optimistic that they will get a
favorable response from the SC since the High Court has repeatedly
shown its recognition for the right of the marginalized to be properly
represented through the Partylist System. #