Ako Bicol party-list to bring disqualification case to SC

Lawmakers from the Ako Bicol party-list on Wednesday vowed to elevate their disqualification case before the Supreme Court after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) declared them ineligible to run in next year’s polls.

 

Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin said his group plans to question the legality and constitutionality of the Comelec’s decision on the party-list’s disqualification next week.

 

“Masaklap talaga itong nangyari. Wala namang basis itong kanilang desisyon. We will definitely raise a question of law before the Supreme Court, but we are still finalizing our legal remedies,” Garbin said at a press briefing.

 

Earlier in the day, Comelec chair Sixto Brillantes Jr. announced that Ako Bicol party-list is one of the 13 groups disqualified from participating in the 2013 polls.

 

Brillantes said the Ako Bicol party-list, which garnered the most number of votes in the 2010 polls, failed to prove that it indeed represents a marginalized sector.

 

Garbin added that his party-list may seek a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Comelec’s decision, which he described as “disheartening” and “misleading.”

 

Flip-flopping?

 

Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe, for his part, said he is “at a loss” why four incumbent Comelec commissioners—Rene Sarmiento, Lucenito Tagle, Armando Velasco and Elias Yusoph—suddenly changed their minds on his group’s qualifications.

 

“Ginawa kaming guinea pig for a test case on regional political parties. Nagtataka kami kung bakit nagkakaflip-flopping dito,” Batocabe said during the same media briefing.

 

He explained that the four election commissioners all ruled that Ako Bicol is eligible to run during the 2010 national elections when the group faced disqualification cases two years ago.

 

Batocabe added that he is wondering why his party-list group is being “singled out” by the Comelec.

 

“Kung hindi kami qualified, ano’ng ginagawa namin dito? Kung titingnan mo naman ‘yung record namin, masasabi mo namang nagtatrabaho kami,” he said.

 

He added that Ako Bicol party-list never claimed that it is a sectoral group, but only registered as a regional political party.

 

“May maliliit na political parties na hindi kayang manalo sa isang regular na eleksyon, kaya lumalaban sila as a party-list group. A political party is not organized along sectoral roots. Ito ay sumusunod sa ideolohiya at plataporma sa gobyerno,” he said.

 

Republic Act 7941 or the Party-list System Act defines party as “either a political party or a sectoral party or a coalition of parties.” — RSJ, GMA News