127 party-list groups register for 2016 polls

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 127 party-list organizations have registered for the May 9, 2016 polls, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

According to Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, this means that 117 party-list groups have not yet submitted their list of nominees to the poll body.

Leaders of some party-list groups filed the certificates of candidacy (COCs) at the Comelec office in Intramuros, Manila wearing costumes to dramatize their campaign.

Inspired by the movie Heneral Luna,” the nominees and supporters of Bayan Muna party-list came wearing Katipunero costumes.

Teddy Casiño, who represented Bayan Muna in the 13th, 14th and 15th Congress, said he was returning to Congress “to do a General Luna.“

Incumbent Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate wore a costume of Gen. Antonio Luna.

Zarate was accompanied by Casiño and another former Bayan Muna congressmen Satur Ocampo.

Before entering the Comelec building to file the COC, the party-list members were told by security guards to leave their “weapons” – plastic guns and wooden swords – at the entrance.

Zarate said that they decided to come to the poll office dressed as revolutionaries to reflect their continuing struggle for the cause that Luna had fought for.

“Para sa bayan at di para sa sarili (For country and not for self),” Zarate quoted a line of Luna in the movie, now a box office hit that has aroused the patriotism of moviegoers.

Zarate said that this has been the advocacy of Bayan Muna since becoming a party-list in 2010.

They believe that the people should choose what is best for the country over foreign interest and corruption.

However, they might have offended some people when they uttered the Spanish expression “punyeta.”

Zarate said they were merely copying a line from the movie when Luna reportedly said it out of anger.

“To those who might have been offended that a lawmaker uttered the word, he believed that just like during the time of Luna, Filipinos today still use the same expression when they are frustrated over the high cost of basic commodities,” he added.

Nominees and supporters of the Sulong Katribu party-list also wore ethnic costumes as they committed to push for the protection of the rights of indigenous people in Congress.                     

The group’s first nominee, Jumoring Goaynon, who hails from Mindanao, maintained that the “unrelenting spate of harassment and attacks against IP reaffirms the need for a representative who is committed to be their voice inside the walls of Congress.

“We have long been violently silenced or blatantly ignored by those in power. Recognizing our role in nation-building is vital if we really want to advance as a nation,” Goaynon added.    – With Evelyn Macairan