OFW party-list group storms Comelec anew

Militant group Migrante International on Thursday stormed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) again, this time asking why it is taking the poll body “so long" to decide on their appeal to junk a decision delisting them as an accredited party-list group.

“The Comelec must not keep more than 10 million OFWs waiting. We deserve to know, is our name in these ballots?" said Connie Bragas-Regalado, chairperson of Migrante Party-list. Late last month, they also stormed the Comelec office, questioning the delistment after the group failed to get at least two percent of the votes cast in the last two elections. But Migrante argued that it is not covered by the grounds for disqualification cited by the Comelec because the group participated only in the 2004 elections but not in the 2007 polls. Migrante lawyers cited this argument in their Motion for Reconsideration filed with the Comelec. On Thursday, however, the group demanded for a swift decision on the appeal so that it could start planning for its next move. “Kung denied, denied. Basta sabihin na nila sa amin (If it’s denied, be it. The Comelec should just tell us)," Ailyn Abdula, Migrante media officer, told GMANews.TV in an interview. No poll body official was immediately available for comments, but Comelec Chairman Jose Melo had earlier said that Migrante was “free" to contest their decision although the figures should “speak for themselves." Should the Comelec rule against them, Migrante's legal counsel Julius Garcia Matibag said they would seek a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court to allow them to file their manifestation of interest to participate in 2010. The poll body is still in the process of deliberating on the requests for accreditation of more than 200 groups wishing to participate in the May 2010 party-list elections. Since the party-list system began in the 1998, no OFW group has succeeded yet in getting a seat in the House of Representatives. - GMANews.TV