House opposition blocs poised to lose members

The two opposition blocs at the House of Representatives are poised to lose some members in the upcoming 18th Congress, further reducing their number to go up against the so-called "supermajority" in the chamber composed mostly of allies of President Rodrigo Duterte.

In a press conference, Bayan Muna party-list Representative Carlos Zarate said that the party-list Anakpawis is sure to lose a seat in Congress, cutting down the number of Makabayan Bloc party-lists in the 18th Congress to four.

"Out of the five incumbents now, ang Anakpawis ay talagang siguradong tinamaan na," he said.

"Apat na party-list pa rin ang papasok and hopefully, anim yung maiiwan na kinatawan," he added.

The progressive Makabayan bloc is currently composed of Zarate, ACT Teachers party-list Representatives Antonio Tinio and France Castro, Anakpawis party-list Representative Ariel Casilao, Gabriela Women's Party Representatives Emmi De Jesus and Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan party-list Representative Sarah Elago.

Casilao cried foul over the election results for the Anakpawis party-list as they have observed cases of "shaving" for votes supposedly intended for them.

According to Casilao, the said scheme occurred in at least 34 precincts in Metro Manila. He said that on election day itself, they shepherded their voters to their respective polling precincts to ensure that they would cast their votes for the party-list.

"Pero ang nangyari sa isang clustered precinct na 200 o 300 yung bilang ng aming miyembrong bumoto, ang lumabas sa aming canvassing ay napakaliit," he said.

"34 precincts pa lamang, meron na kaming vote shave na 770. Paano sa ibang mga lugar?" he added.

Casilao said they would exhaust all legal means to question the supposed cases of vote shaving before the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

"Ang mahalaga ay mailantad na this Smartmatic at itong nakaraang eleksyon ay talagang nawalan ng kredibilidad, nawalan ng integridad," he said.

"Hahayaan ba natin na mismong nasa kapangyarihan ay bababuyin ang batas hinggil sa election code? Hahayaan ba natin ang garapalan na paglabag sa mga batas ng eleksyon kahit na ng mismong nasa poder?" he added.

In the current composition of Magnificent 7 opposition group, Akbayan party-list Representative Tom Villarin is set to lose his seat, claiming that the party-list lost more than 400,000 votes as compared to the votes they received in the previous elections.

Currently, Akbayan party-list garnered only more than 171,000 votes, placing them at the 55th spot in the elections.

"Akbayan has been in here in Congress for the past 21 years and hindi namin matanggap na ganun ang boto namin," Villarin said, adding that the party-list even got zero votes in many precincts.

Villarin earlier said that several of their members reported that some votes for the partylist were not registered on the final count.

He said the party-list is requesting the Comelec to conduct a random manual audit on the votes cast during the midterm elections.

"I hope the Comelec en banc will address that. Pero kapag na-proclaim na yung party-lists, the only recourse is a recount which is very costly din," Villarin said.

Despite this development, Tinio said the Makabayan bloc will remain as the "true opposition" in the Congress.

"Tanging ang Makabayan bloc ang magiging malinaw at hindi makwe-kwestiyon na tututol dito at titindig para sa tunay na interes ng mamamayan," he said.

Albay Representative Edcel Lagman also said the Magnificent 7 will remain. —LDF, GMA News