STATE WORKERS’ PARTYLIST STORMS COMELEC

Submitted by courage_phil on Wed, 11/25/2009 - 03:13.

COURAGE PARTYLIST (CPL),
the national sectoral party list of state workers, today formally filed a
motion to reconsider its petition for registration as a national sectoral party
for the purpose of the May 2010 elections before the Commission on Elections
(COMELEC).

The COMELEC 1^st
Division earlier junked CPL’s petition, citing its alleged lack of national
membership and failure to submit a copy of its Articles of Incorporation which
the COMELEC argued is in effect failure to establish that the group truly
represents a marginalized and underrepresented sector.

In its Motion for
Reconsideration, COURAGE Partylist reiterated that it has fulfilled COMELEC’s requirement
of establishing national constituency. To determine national constituency, a
partylist should have regional offices in at least 9 regions. “We even exceeded
COMELEC’s minimum requirement since we have attached in our petition 11
regional chapters/offices. What’s bothering us is the kind of verification
process the COMELEC conducted since majority of our regional coordinators were
not contacted at all. For instance, our provincial chapter in Bukidnon even
attempted to submit an additional list of our members in the said province to
aide the COMELEC’s provincial election officers in its verification. Instead of
accepting the list, they were just told that there’s no need for a new list
since everything is already ok. That’s why the resolution really shocked us
since it claimed that we are totally non-existent in the Region X and in  8 other regions wherein we have regional
chapters and coordinators,” explained COURAGE Partylist National President
Ferdinand Gaite.

A nationwide
mobilization was held by COURAGE Partylist members in various COMELEC offices
to slam the question of national constituency. The militant partylist also
urged the COMELEC to immediately act on its motion. “We are concerned that the
COMELEC will resolve our appeal too late making our participation in the 2010
elections impossible. The decision on our petition for registration came out
six months after and only a week before the deadline of filing of certificates of
candidacy. We hope that the COMELEC will not take another six months to release
its decision on our Motion for Reconsideration,” said Gaite.

Gaite pointed out that
they will bring their case to the Supreme Court should the COMELEC En Banc uphold
the 1^st Division’s resolution. 
“We will not allow that our constituents - the government employees,
retires and their families- be deprived of their right to have a genuine
representation in Congress. We will definitely not tire in seeking other
remedies, may it be in courts or in the streets,” stated Gaite.

The protesters also
demanded that the COMELEC should not have double standards in accrediting
partylists. “Kung mayroon mang dapat na
i-disqualify ay iyong mga kagaya ng Kasangga at Bantay. Their
representatives, Lourdes Arroyo and Ret. Gen. Jovito Palparan, clearly do not
belong to any marginalized sector and this is a blatant violation of the
Partylist System Act,” added Gaite.

COURAGE
Partylist shall hold a vigil protest in front of the COMELEC’s office in Palacio
del Gobernador until November 27 and file its manifestation to participate on
December 1 despite pending resolution on its appeal. #