Palace defends Akbayan party-list

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang yesterday defended President Aquino’s ally Akbayan party, insisting there is nothing wrong with the donations made by his sisters to the party-list group in the May 2010 elections.

Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda justified the donations, saying Aquino’s sisters are also private citizens who can make any contribution to any political party they like.  

“This is a democratic process. We have democratic process. The sisters are, and continue up to this day, as private citizens. They have a right to contribute to a group which they feel would also support the President’s program of anti-corruption and poverty alleviation,” Lacierda said. 

“It should not come as a surprise, being private citizens, that they choose to support groups which are supportive of the advocacies of the President,” he added. 

At the same time, Lacierda defended accusations hurled against Akbayan that it is no longer a marginalized group. 

“I suppose the question should be: Are the present party-list representatives effective in advocating concerns of the marginalized?” he asked. 

“I think that’s one of the issues that a party-list group should address. Is there a monopoly? Can the marginalized be said to be over-represented? We have a big marginalized sector. The Comelec (Commission on Elections) should evaluate each and every group which claims to represent the marginalized sector,” Lacierda said. 

“It’s not a question of who your supporters are, it’s a question of what you stand for. And do you really genuinely represent the marginalized sector,” he explained.  

Sources of contributions

Based on the Statement of Contribution and Expenditures (SOCE) filed by Akbayan treasurer Arlene Santos, the party-list group had received some P112 million in campaign contributions for the 2010 polls.

Some P14 million of it came from Aquino’s three sisters.

Youngest sister Kris Aquino made a cash contribution of P10 million on March 10, 2010.

Maria Elena Aquino-Cruz and Victoria Aquino-Dee contributed P2 million each on March 19 and April 5, 2010, respectively.

Current Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello had put in a total of P1.4 million while Akbayan leader and National Anti-Poverty Commission chairman Jose Eliseo Rocamora contributed P1 million.

The SOCE, which covered Feb. 9 to May 8, 2010, showed P112,183,000 was contributed to Akbayan, P5,250,000 coming from “political party organizations” and P106,933,000 given by “other persons.”

The SOCE also showed Akbayan had spent a total of P112,174,008 for the campaign. 

The militant group Bayan led by secretary-general Renato Reyes said the SOCE only proves Akbayan is already well entrenched in the Aquino administration, and thus should not be allowed to join the 2013 race as party-list group.

“The links between Aquino and Akbayan, even from the time of the 2010 elections, show that Akbayan is really Aquino’s favored party-list. And now that Aquino is president, questions continue to arise on how Akbayan will be using their position in the Aquino government to gain unfair advantage over the truly marginalized and underrepresented groups,” he said. – With Sheila Crisostomo