Akbayan, Butil bets proclaimed

Party-list winners Akbayan and Butil were proclaimed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) after the Supreme Court lifted last week the temporary restraining order it issued earlier.

Comelec Chairman Alfredo Benipayo and Commissioners Resurreccion Borra, Florentino Tuason and Mehol Sadain proclaimed the party-list winners Akbayan and Butil, which will be represented by second-termer Etta Rosales and neophyte Benjamin Cruz, respectively.

The first party-list winner that was proclaimed was Bayan Muna, which gained three seats to be occupied by Satur Ocampo, Crispin Beltran and Liza Maza.

Rosales said that she would create a "conscience bloc" together with young members of Congress upon her assumption of office.

She also plans to file a measure that would expand the party-list system and increase the maximum number of seats to be allocated to election winners from three to 10. – Sandy Araneta