Comelec commissioner: Dominant minority party should come from minority

A commissioner of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has expressed "serious reservation" on the decision of the poll body to declare an administration ally as the "dominant minority party" for the May 13 elections.

Comelec Commissioner Luie Tito Guia told the en banc in a May 7 memorandum that the dominant minority party should "logically" come from the minority.

"I respectfully submit that the Dominant Minority Party should logically come from the minority, that is, a party that belongs to those that stand opposite the majority," Guia said, citing the Omnibus Election Code's description of the dominant opposition party.

"Obviously, the second most dominant party would not necessarily belong to the minority," he said.

Guia said the purpose of determining the dominant majority and minority parties is to "ensure fairness in treating contending or opposing political groups."

"This purpose will not be served if the Dominant Minority Party also comes from the majority," he said.

Comelec on May 8 declared the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino - Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) as the "dominant majority party" and the Nacionalista Party (NP) as its counterpart from the minority.

PDP-Laban is the political party of President Rodrigo Duterte, while the NP, a known administration all, is headed by the Villars.  Senator Cynthia Villar is running for reelection under the administration-backed coalition, Hugpong ng Pagbabago, which also includes PDP-Laban.

Senator Francis Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party (LP), has raised objection to the Comelec's decision, saying that LP should have been the dominant minority party.

Pangilinan said the decision was unacceptable, adding that LP will raise the matter before the Supreme Court .

Under the law, dominant majority and minority parties are entitled to get the fifth and sixth copies of election returns (ERs), respectively, to be produced by the vote counting machines.

The dominant majority and minority parties will also receive electronically-transmitted precinct results and will have access to the seventh and eighth copies of the Certificates of Canvass (COCs), respectively.

The parties are also allowed to assign official watchers in every polling places and canvassing centers.

Comelec said the declaration was based on a set of criteria that included the organizations' established record and the number of their incumbent elective officials.

Of all the parties that applied for accreditation, PDP-Laban and NP scored highest and second highest.

Guia recommended that the Comelec should first determine which parties belong to the majority and to the minority before selecting the dominant ones.

"With the current polarized political climate, it is not hard to divine which group belongs to the majority or minority," he said.—LDF, GMA News