5 more groups disqualified from 2013 party-list race

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has disqualified five more party-list groups — three existing and two new entrants — from next year's elections. Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. on Wednesday identified the five as: Existing:

• Confederation of Non-Stock Savings and Loan Associations, Inc. (CONSLA)
• Itenerant Vendors Alliance of the Philippines (IVAP)

New:

• 1Pinoy para sa Kalikasan
• Empleyadong Nagtataguyod ng Bagong Anyo ng Kapaligiran (EN BANK)

The Comelec also disqualified existing group Partido ng Bayan ang Bida as party-list but retained it as a political party. The groups were said to be representing loan associations, vendors and environmentalists. The new groups were approved by the Comelec division but reversed in the en banc. Brillantes said the groups were disqualified because these do not represent marginalized sectors. "I think it is not marginalized because these are loan associations," he said, citing the case of CONSLA. Brillantes, a former election lawyer, inhibited from CONSLA's case because the group was his former client. Final list Brillantes said they would try to finish the final list of disqualified groups by Thursday. "Bukas siguro sabi ko tapusin na natin lahat. Pagod na ako sa kakahintay." He also said the applications of some party-list groups have yet to be decided on because the commission lost some of its folders. He did not elaborate. The Comelec has so far approved 79 party-list groups, including Akbayan, Bayan Muna, Piston, among others, and disqualified over a hundred others, including Mikey Arroyo's Ang Galing Pinoy and the administration-linked Black and White Movement. The party-list system, legislated under Republic Act 7941, aims to open the halls of Congress to the marginalized ajd underrepresented. MELCHORA Meanwhile, Grace Ibuna, the first nominee of Movement of Women for Change and Reform (MELCHORA) party-list and the partner of the late Negros Occiental Rep. Iggy Arroyo, visited Brillantes on Wednesday to ask about her party-list's disqualification. Brillantes said Ibuna pleaded for the approval of MELCHORA, a group that claims to represent women. "Pinapakiusap niya 'yung party-list niya... Sabi ko, wala nang chance," Brillantes said. He said Ibuna should instead go to the Supreme Court and ask for a status quo ante order. MELCHOR party-list is included in poll watchdog Kontra Daya's list of groups that should be weeded out from the elections next year. Kontra Daya said Ibuna is not marginalized, noting that her grandfather was one of the longest serving mayor of San Juan. "Even if  her husband has died, she is no different from the wives and children of political clans who are disqualified from the party-list system, since she has as resources the political and economic clout of Cong. Iggy Arroyo in Negros," Kontra Daya said. — KBK, GMA News