Comelec asked to intervene in Kabayan party-list dispute

MANILA, Philippines -- Kabayaan party-list Rep. Harry Roque said Tuesday that he has petitioned the Commission on Elections to intervene in a dispute within the party, whose board may have already removed him.

Earlier Tuesday, a supposed statement from Kabayan announced Roque's removal from the party after an internal investigation over his behavior at a House hearing in November 2016 it said "gravely affected the moral sensibilities of Kabayan Partylist members and supporters."

Roque was among members of the House of Representatives who grilled Ronnie Dayan, former driver and alleged bagman of Sen. Leila De Lima, on his past relationship with the former Justice secretary and alleged coddler of drug lords.

Lawmakers reaped criticism for questions that seemed improper as they delved on personal details of the relationship, one that De Lima initially denied but has since admitted to. 

Roque's acts and statements, without approval from the board, "gravely tarnished" Kabayan's reputation, the statement read. 

Roque also disparaged the board in public, it said "and yet, he had the temerity to even represent Kabayan Partylist, and refer to himself as Kabayan Partylist Representative."

Under the party-list system, parties elect their representatives. Votes are cast for specific party-lists and not for their representatives, whom the parties can replace or remove according to internal rules.

Roque: Supposed resolution 'of no moment'

"The fact that the notice of removal was sent to the media but not to me or my office just goes to show that the people behind this plot are after media mileage, not the interest of our party," the lawmaker, a member of the House minority bloc, said in a statement released to the press.

He said the supposed ouster violates Kabayan's constitution and by-laws and accused partymate Rep. Ron Salo of "[putting] up his own Executive Committee, composed of individuals he had hand-picked, in gross violation of the party Constitution and By-laws."

He said that he had repeatedly called to hold a party congress in the past but that Salo blocked his efforts.
 
"For this reason, I filed today with the Commission on Elections a petition to compel the party to hold a party congress so that the issue of the rightful leadership of the party can be settled legally," Roque said, adding he is also asking the Comelec to void the resolution removing him from the party.
 
"The Comelec is the proper venue for the intra-corporate dispute now brewing within the party-list group," he said, citing jurisdprudence.

He said that the Supreme Court ruled in 2013 that "the Comelec necessarily possesses the power to pass upon the question of who, among the legitimate officers of the party-list group, are entitled to exercise the rights and privileges granted to a party-list group under the law."

He said that the same court had previously ruled that "the Comelec's power to register political parties necessarily involved the determination of the persons who must act on (the party's) behalf."

Kabayan was registered as a party-list in 2009 and "represents transport workers, farmers, fisherfolk, industrial workers, urban poor, migrant workers and seafarers, youth, and professionals." — Jonathan de Santos