The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday clarified that no party-list groups have received final accreditation yet for the 2013 midterm elections.
 
Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the announcements of some party-lists groups that they’ve been accredited were just decisions from Comelec divisions.
 
He was referring to an announcement from transport group Piston Land Transport Coalition, which was accredited by the Comelec second division under commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph.
 
Jimenez said party-list groups have to go through an automatic review by all of the commissioners sitting en banc in order to recieve its final accreditation.
 
“Kahit na-approve na ng division – which is what they’ve been telling you – they have to go to the en banc for an automatic review,” he said.
 
In the en banc session, accreditation of party-lists under the division “could be reversed,” he added.
 
Asked if the concerned party-list groups were violating any Comelec rules on premature campaigning, Jimenez said: “It’s a press release. They’ve been telling you what’s happening to them.”

”That’s newsworthy,” he added.
 
The party-list system – legislated as Republic Act 7941 – aims to give a voice to citizens’ groups “belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties, and who lack well-defined political constituencies” to become members of the House of Representatives. - Marc Jayson Cayabyab/KBK/DVM, GMA News