Comelec hit for approach on party-list system

MANILA, Philippines - The political party Ako Bicol (AKB) said the commissioners of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) should watch a movie together in a public cinema – which is open to all – to be able to understand the essence of the party-list system.

AKB lawyer Alfredo Molo III, in assailing the party’s disqualification in next year’s party-list polls, said the 1987 Constitution is clear that party-list election system should be “free and open.”

Molo, a professor at the UP College of Law, stressed that the Comelec had disregarded the spirit of the party-list law when it disqualified AKB.

He said the poll body had drawn the limit not only to party-list representation, but more importantly to the free choice of the electorate.

“The Comelec, in effect, disenfranchised the overwhelming mandate of 1,522,986 voters to AKB during the 2010 elections. They don’t have the power to do that. Comelec cannot take away their right to vote,” he stressed.

He said the poll body cannot ignore the mandate that the voters gave the party in May 2010.

Molo said that the poll body decided to disqualify AKB in the party-list polls next year after conducting only one hearing last Aug. 24. The representatives of AKB were called to the Comelec office to face what turned out to be a revocation process.

In this aspect, he said the Comelec again violated the Constitution and its internal rules that require it to resolve issues covered by its quasi-judicial functions through its divisions.

The poll body decided on AKB’s case directly through the full commission.– Sheila Crisostomo