Disqualified party-list groups want votes counted as valid

Several disqualified party-list groups have asked the Supreme Court to order the Commission on Election (Comelec) to recognize the votes they got in the May 13 mid-term elections. In a 19-page urgent petition, one of the groups, Partido ng Magsasaka Para sa mga Magsasaka (Binhi), said the Comelec acted with grave abuse of discretion when it affirmed the group's earlier disqualification in November 2012 without conducting evidentiary hearings. In December last year, the Supreme Court issued a status quo ante order requiring the Comelec to include a number of disqualified party-list groups, including Binhi, on the ballot. Last April, the SC remanded to the Comelec the petitions. The high court also set new parameters on the qualifications of party-list groups. Of those groups whose cases were remanded to the poll body, the Comelec disqualified Binhi and 11 others on May 10. Comelec's ruling, however, came a little late as the ballots had already been printed and the names of the 12 groups had already been included on the printed ballots. Binhi also said they only obtained a copy of the May 10 Comelec resolution on May 15. "When the petitioner reviewed the copy of respondent's resolution dated May 10 and released May 15 to its own calculation, Binhi can possibly win a least one seat in Congress," the group said. The group told the high court that it was able to shore up a considerable amount of votes to merit a seat in Congress. "Despite such arbitrary and whimsical cancellation of its registration, petitioner is proud to inform this honorable court that from the partial unofficial results of the recently concluded May 13, 2013 elections, Binhi has already garnered a total of 153,999," Binhi said. "For sure these votes cannot and should not be disenfranchised by such grave abuse of discretion committed by respondent Comelec," the group added. Binhi was among the 12 party-list groups deemed disqualified by the Comelec after the Supreme Court remanded to the poll body several petitions questioning an earlier series of disqualifications last year. Apart from Binhi, other groups who had just asked the SC to also recognize the votes they got in last week's polls were Abang Lingkod, Senior Citizens, and Anad. The remaining groups are: 1. A-IPRA 2. ANG GALING PINOY 3. ATONG PAGLAUM 4. SMART 5. 1ST KABAGIS 6. BANTAY 7. COCOFED 8. KAP The 12 were among the party-list organizations initially disallowed by Comelec to join the May 13 polls but sought the help of the Supreme Court, which remanded their case to the Comelec and ordered the poll body to conduct “evidentiary hearings” based on the new parameters adopted by the high tribunal. The Comelec, however, still found out that they are not qualified even under the new parameters set by the Supreme Court. After a one-day pause, the Comelec on Monday resumed the canvassing of votes from the May 13 polls—this time for the party-list groups. The poll body has no choice but to canvass the votes of disqualified groups included on the ballots. — BM, GMA News