Rosales calls on Comelec to disqualify ‘fake’ party-list

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) was urged yesterday to disqualify "fake" party-list groups or those that are "fronts and allies" of the Arroyo administration.

In making the appeal, Akbayan Rep. Loretta Ann Rosales said yesterday that if the Comelec would need a complaint to withdraw its accreditation of such organizations, Akbayan would file a complaint within the week, possibly on Wednesday.

"Based on the list of nominees the commission released last week, we consider many of these groups as Malacañang fronts and allies," she said.

She said based on the standards set by the Supreme Court in previous disqualification cases, the Palace "fronts" have to be disaccredited "because they don’t represent marginalized sectors."

She recalled that one organization that the high court disqualified after it won a seat in the House was an anti-drug group led by actor Richard Gomez, who is now a senatorial candidate.

The Comelec released the names of nominees of party-list groups a day after the Supreme Court ordered it to do so upon the petition by Rosales and former Senate President Jovito Salonga.

In a unanimous ruling, the court said the Comelec should observe full transparency.

The list of nominees includes the names of controversial retired Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, who represents the group Bantay; and lawyer Raul Lambino, who led last year’s failed administration-backed people’s initiative to amend the Constitution.

The other groups whose qualification to participate in the party-list system Akbayan will question are Agbiag, whose nominee is Assistant Secretary Marcelo Fariñas of Malacañang’s Office of External Affairs; Babae Ka, which Rosales claims is associated with Fariñas’ office; Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy, another group identified with Palparan; Kalahi, whose nominee is Karlo Nograles, son of House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles; Ahon Bayan, which, according to Rosales, is a group President Arroyo formed when she was secretary of social welfare and development during the Estrada administration; Biyaheng Pinoy, a group of tricycle drivers in Mandaluyong that is represented by Dr. Arsenio Abalos, brother of Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos; AA-Kasosyo, whose nominee is Felix Brawner, brother of a Comelec commissioner; and Alliance for Rural Concerns, whose nominee is Narciso Santiago lll, son of staunch Arroyo ally Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago.

Rosales said that if the Supreme Court deprived Gomez of a seat in the House because he did not represent a marginal group, the high tribunal should also disqualify these "Malacanang fronts," if the Comelec does not withdraw its accreditation of these groups. – Jess Diaz