Pialago’s group disqualified from party-list race

MANILA, Philippines — The Malasakit Movement Inc., whose first nominee is former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority spokesperson Celine Pialago, has been excluded in the final ballot by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

In a notice promulgated on Tuesday, the Comelec excluded the Malasakit Movement from the party-list groups that could participate in the May 9 elections.

Pialago has said the Malasakit Movement seeks to represent barangay workers in Congress.

With the group’s disqualification, there are 177 party-lists that are included in the official ballot for the May elections.

Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the Malasakit Movement could file an appeal before the Supreme Court.

The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas urged the Comelec to also disqualify the Mothers for Change or MOCHA party-list, which is allegedly backed by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC).

The MOCHA party-list is represented by former Overseas Workers Welfare Administration deputy administrator Mocha Uson and NTF-ELCAC ambassador Michele Gumabao.

Meanwhile, Ang Probinsyano party-list has denied allegations that it was behind the petition filed with the Comelec seeking to cancel the certificate of nomination and acceptance (CONA) of its third nominee Rep. Ronnie Ong.

“We would like to clarify that the group had no hand in the petition for cancelation of CONA of Representative Ronnie Ong,” Ang Probinsyano spokesman Jose Bartholomew Buenagua said in a statement.

Ong had reportedly filed his certificate of candidacy as the first nominee of the Alliance of Public Transport Organization.