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Group of persons with disabilities allowed to join 2013 party-list race


(Updated 6:25 p.m.) The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has approved the application of a party-list group of persons with disabilities to participate in next year’s elections, but rejected the bid of an incumbent anti-communist group claiming to represent rebel returnees. Pilipinos with Disabilities (PWD) is the first party-list group approved by the Comelec to participate in next year’s party-list derby. Its representatives are visually-impaired Michael Barredo, orthopedically-impaired Manuel Agcaoili, Adeline Ancheta, Octavio Gonzales and Luis Arrelano – all of whom are persons with disabilities. This will be the first time a PWD group is running in the party-list system. "They are represented by Filipinos, all of them are disabled. Right now we don't have a representation of the disabled," Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Wednesday in explaining their decision regarding PWD application. “’Yung nominess nila, talaga namang disabled. Pangalawa, may track record sila of working with and for persons with disabilities,” added commissioner Rene Sarmiento, who heads the special voters’ registration for PWDs. ANAD disqualified Meanwhile, Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) – whose incumbent representative is Pastor Alcover Jr. – is disqualified for supposedly not being representatives of a marginalized sector but instead being an advocacy group against communism. “Kung ‘yun lang ang advocacy nila, bakit pa sila sasali pa? Sino nire-represent nila, anti-communist?” Brillantes said.    “It’s more of an advocacy group, anti-communism. It is not a sector mentioned in Republic Act 7941,” Sarmiento said, referring to the party-list law that states that sectors allowed to participate in the party-list system are labor, peasant, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, elderly, handicapped, women, youth, veterans, overseas workers, and professionals. Security consultant Alcover has a net worth of P7.55 million as of 2010.  He is closely associated with retired Army general Jovito Palparan, who is now in hiding after being implicated in the disappearance of UP students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan. Also among the existing party-list groups disqualified from running in next year’s elections were Cocofed (Cocofed-Philippine Coconut Producers Federation Inc.), AAMA (Alliance of Advocates in Mining Advancement for National Progress), Bayani, Abang-Lingkod, AANI (Usa An Aton Nahihigugma Nga Iroy Nga Tuna), A-IPRA, AME, Greenforce, Firm 24-K Association Inc., ALIM (Action League of Indigenous Masses), ALMA (Alma sa Pagkahikahos at Ignorasiya), Kaagapay (Kaunlaran ng Agrikultura Asensadong Probinsiya Angat ng Bayan), and SMART (Social Movement for Active Reform and Transparency). New entrants The applications of new entrants Kalikasan Green Party, A-Seamariners Inc., and the EDSA (Education Development Services for Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao), were also denied by the poll commissioners sitting en banc. Brillantes said Kalikasan – whose first nominee is incumbent Kabataan party-list Rep. Raymond Palatino – is an advocacy group and does not represent a sector. “Tingnan  niyo ‘yung Kalikasan. Wala namang sector ‘yun. Environment ang kanyang [nire-represent]. Wala namang environment sector,” he said. The Comelec also decided that Kabaka (Kabalikat ng Bayan sa Kaunlaran) and Alliance of Bicolnon Party should participate as political parties and not as party-lists. Brillantes noted that Kabaka is the alleged front party-list of the Bagatsings, a political family in Manila. The nominee is Amanda Bagatsing, the daughter of Manila fifth district Rep. Amado Bagatsing. The nominee’s uncle, Ramon Bagatsing Jr., was fourth district representative from 1987 to 1998, while her grandfather, Ramon Bagatsing, was the longest serving mayor of Manila from 1971 to 1986. The Comelec has in total disqualified seven party-lists that have sitting representatives in the 15th Congress — ANAD; regional group Ako Bicol; Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP), whose incumbent representative is Mikey Arroyo, eldest son of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo; APEC and 1-CARE, which claim to represent electricity consumers; and Aangat Tayo, representing urban poor, women, elderly and youth; and Kapatiran ng mga Nakulong na Walang Sala, which represents penal institutions and prisoners. Previously disqualified from taking part in next year's polls are registered party-list groups Bantay, whose representative in the 14th Congress was Palparan; AGRI; AKMA-PTM; AKO AGILA; AKO BAHAY; PACYAW; PM MASDA; COFA; ARARO; KATUTUBO; and OPO. All took part during the 2010 elections. The poll body has in total canceled the accreditation of six new applicants, the latest were Ram Guardians, Alyansa para sa Demokrasya, and Association of Airline and Airport Workers. In the May 2010 polls, 187 organizations took part in the party-list system. To date, 114 groups have been disqualified or de-listed from participating in next year's race.   The party-list system — legislated under RA 7941 — aims to open the House of Representatives to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors. Brillantes said they are cleansing the party-list system from  those who abused the mechanism’s intent to open Congress to the marginalized and underrepresented. “We’re applying the rules strictly as we want to interpret it strictly…  Na-abuso ito noong 2010. Gusto naming linisin ito in preparation for 2016,” he said. — KBK, GMA News  
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