Accreditation of pro-Estrada party-list groups questioned

Members of a militant group with representatives in Congress will question before the Supreme Court the Commission on Elections’ decision to allow groups identified with ousted President Estrada and dominant political parties to take part in the party-list elections next month.

Akbayan Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales told reporters yesterday the Comelec must be held responsible for its failure to "follow the spirit of the law" in the accreditation of party-list groups.

"Instead what we are seeing here is that genuine party-list groups are being marginalized right in their own turf," she said.

Akbayan president Joel Rocamora said supporters of Estrada are trying to get elected to Congress through the party-list system.

"As it is, we are already faced by the fact that there are too many party-list groups to choose from and there is not enough time to educate voters about what this is all about," he said.

Rosales said Akbayan will join a broad coalition of party-list groups, members of "civil society," and church-based organizations to campaign against "bogus" party-list groups.

"For now, the immediate solution to this sorry state of affairs is to unite militantly and wage an open political battle against these trapos of the party-list polls," she said.

Akbayan will also meet with members of the 1987 Constitutional Commission to ask for help in their planned court action against the Comelec, she added.

On the other hand, lawyer Rene Sarmiento, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, told The STAR yesterday the Constitution had intended the party-list system to equalize and distribute political power in the country.

"The Comelec’s act is ‘evidently against’ the spirit and intent of the 1987 Charter," he said.

Sarmiento said the system’s proponents among his fellow Constitutional Commissioners saw it as a means of breaking the "stranglehold" of personality-oriented politics in the country.

"This is because under the system, the electorate vote not for people but for party platforms," he said.

The constitutional mandate is violated when dominant political parties are allowed to take part in party-list elections, he added.

Of the 163 party-list groups the Comelec has allowed to participate in next month’s elections, 117 belong to the professional sector, sectoral organizations, coalitions and political parties. – Romel Bagares