It's final: LP is dominant minority party

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) last night declared the Liberal Party (LP) of presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino as the dominant minority party in Monday’s automated elections.

In a nine-page resolution, the Comelec also acknowledged the administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD as the dominant majority party and is entitled to secure the fifth copy of the election returns (ERs).

It said the dominant minority party would get a copy of the election returns printed from the precinct count optical scan machines (PCOS) and a copy of the certificate of canvass. It will also be permitted to deploy one watcher in the polling precincts.

At the close of the polls, the PCOS machines will immediately print eight copies of ERs, with another 22 set to follow after transmitting all the results to the next servers.         

In identifying the dominant majority and minority parties, the Comelec considered the established record of the parties, the number of incumbent elective officials, and their ability to field a complete slate, among others.

In the past, only six manually-prepared ER copies were made available, with the fourth and fifth copy going to the dominant majority and minority parties.

The LP earlier sought the exclusion of Nationalista Party and National People’s Coalition (NPC) in the accreditation of dominant minority party for allegedly failing to meet necessary requirements for accreditation.

It said the coalition between the NP and the NPC was formed only last Jan. 28, six months after the Comelec-imposed deadline for registration of political parties.

It claimed that the NP-NPC formed the coalition to steal from the former the right to be accredited as dominant minority party. 

The Comelec previously approved the merger, but the Supreme Court reversed the ruling.

As separate political parties, the NP and NPC fielded fewer national and local candidates compared to the LP’s 7,393 candidates in the coming elections.

The poll body has also approved the Bangon Pilipinas Movemet, Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino, and PDP-Laban as other accredited major political parties, aside from the NP and the NPC.

 Balancing act 

With only two days before the elections, Liberal Party (LP) standard-bearer Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III still does a balancing act on feuding allies and relatives.

While the LP wrapped up its campaign yesterday with high hopes of victory for Aquino and vice presidential bet, Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, questions on whether the party could keep its team intact until Monday continue to hound the camp. – Mayen Jaymalin, Delon Porcalla, Aurea Calica