Disqualification case eyed vs. Ang Mata party-list over health projects

A citizen's movement group announced Tuesday that it plans to file a disqualification case against the Ang Mata ay Alagaan (Ang Mata) party-list group over some of its health projects.

“Maybe, this should also compel the Comelec [Commission on Elections] to tediously screen party-list groups, in terms of genuine representation to the poor and marginalized and their capacity to serve these sectors,” Pinoy Aksyon for Governance and Environment (Pinoy Aksyon) said in a statement.

Pinoy Aksyon said it is considering a disqualification case after receiving reports that Ang Mata conducted free eye clinics with unlicensed doctors.

It has also allegedly distributed free eyecare products that were not approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

“We have learned our lesson from the Dengvaxia tragedy, we cannot afford another one,” the group noted.

Pinoy Aksyon convenor Bency Ellorin called on the House Ethics and Health committees to launch a probe into Ang Mata's health projects.

"It is already a scam that scions of political families have prostituted the party-list system the fund their scandalously expensive lifestyles, some even using their congressional offices as beauty salon and spa—for gluta sessions," the group said.

Ang Mata is one of 40 party-lists named in 2010 as possibly being used by government officials, police and military officials, and businessmen to win a seat in Congress.

Its representative, Tricia Nicole Velasco-Catera, belongs to a political clan and is the daughter of incumbent Supreme Court justice Presbiterio Velasco.

GMA News Online has reached out to Velasco-Catera for comment. — BM, GMA News