Comelec denies Magdalo's application for accreditation

MANILA, Philippines - The past may have caught up with the Magdalo group after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday rejected its application as a registered political party for the May 2010 elections.

In a six-page resolution, the Comelec’s Second Division led by Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer with Commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph rejected the petition of “Magdalo Para sa Pagbabago” group to be recognized as a regional political party in Metro Manila.

Comelec said the principal founders of Magdalo “still harbor the propensity to engage in another illegal adventure similar to the failed 2003 Oakwood mutiny should they again fail to achieve their goal.”

The Comelec said the group “remains unrepentant” in their effort to stage a mutiny against the government when they took over the Oakwood Premier Hotel in Makati City in 2003.

“This time with the use of the political party that they are now applying for accreditation and which may very well be used by them to recruit and indoctrinate disciplined followers who may become their blind followers,” the Comelec said.

The Second Division had forwarded the resolution to the Comelec’s Commission Secretariat for promulgation.

The group, through its chairman, detained Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, filed a petition last July 2 seeking accreditation as a political party in Metro Manila to put up candidates for local elective posts in the 2010 elections.

Comelec though rejected the petition, saying Magdalo “should be refused registration in accordance with Art. IX-C Section 2 (5) of the Constitution.”

Comelec said Magdalo “appears to retain their propensity up to now” to “employ violence and use unlawful means to achieve their goals, in the process defying the laws of organized societies.”

The Comelec resolution stated Magdalo “limits the laws and rules and regulations to which it commits itself to comply with” only to election laws.

The poll body noted the court martial of the 54 junior officers and servicemen belonging to the group in which they had pleaded guilty to charges of violating Articles of War 97 in exchange for their dishonorable discharge from military service.

“The plea bargain agreement, however, excluded 29 other officers including the hardcore leaders of Magdalo,” the resolution stated.