Ladlad accuses Vidal of swaying Comelec against accreditation

CEBU, Philippines - Ang Ladlad Party, which represents homosexuals, bisexuals, and transgender, yesterday said Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal and Human Life International-Pilipinas country director Rene Josef Bullecer were the people behind the non-accreditation of their partylist by the Commission on Elections.

Mikay Dumabok, coordinator of Akbayan Partylist-Cebu, said in a press conference yesterday that Vidal and Bullecer were the ones who influenced the Comelec commissioners to junk Ladlad's accreditation. Akbayan is strongly supporting the cause of Ang Ladlad Partylist.

Harold de Mesa, Ang Ladlad member, however said that their group has no knowledge about the allegations made by Dumabok.

Cebu Archdiocese media liaison officer, Msgr. Achilles Dakay was quick to deny the accusations.

"Naa silay ebidensiya ana?" Dakay said in a text message to The FREEMAN. "Naa ba silay retrato sa pagbabag?"

Bullecer, in a separate statement, also denied the allegations. "In fact I believed nga ang reason na disqualified na sila was the same reason nga gibasihan sa Comelec when Ladlad was disqualified in their first attempt in 2004," he said.

According to him, one group that was very instrumental in the disqualification of Ladlad is Courage Philippines, a Manila-based organization of former homosexuals.

He added that base on reports, Ladlad simply cannot qualify as a sector among the 12 groups which zero in on marginalized group because Ladlad is behavior-based unlike the other marginalized or underrepresented sectors.

Ladlad on the other hand, has already filed a motion for reconsideration as they question the propriety of the Comelec decision in junking its application for the partylist nomination.

Ang Ladlad is the national organization of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender (LGBT) Filipinos with now over 10,000 members in Cebu alone.

In its official statement, the LGBT community in Cebu stated that the Comelec decision is purely based on hysteria and homophobia.

"We are urging Comelec Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer and two other commissioners to resign," said Mike Lopez, former commissioner of the National Youth Commission.

The statement added that the Comelec's decision is a solid evidence of discrimination as they believed that the LGBT community in the country deserves a representation in Congress.

"We are not asking for special rights. We are not pursuing an immoral or unlawful goal. We are only demanding that our human rights, similar to that of everyone else, be recognized, accepted and respected," the statement further reads.

Dumabok added that the Akbayan's Gays and Lesbians Collective-Cebu believes that the Comelec has no credibility to talk about morality when in a lot of cases it was an instrument of political manipulation and distortion of the real will of the people.

Ang Ladlad members will have a rally today at the Comelec office in Cebu City to express their grievances. They will all together tore the copy of the Comelec decision and at the same time they will have a “babaylan” dance, a dance that is intended to drive away evil spirits to allegedly “drive away the evil spirit of the Comelec.” – Mitchelle L. Palaubsanon/WAB   (FREEMAN NEWS)