Comelec to proclaim more party-list groups today

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is scheduled to proclaim today more groups that won in the party-list election on May 13.

According to House sources, the additional groups that would be declared winners include Anak Mindanao (Amin), Abante Mindanao, Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association (LPGMA), and You Against Corruption and Poverty (YACAP).

These groups would obtain the threshold two percent of the total number of party-list votes cast to be entitled to a seat in the House of Representatives, if those credited to disqualified organizations were excluded from the tally.

If they have less than two percent, they could still qualify for representation in the House once the Comelec fills all 58 party-list seats based on the number of votes party-list groups have obtained.

Abante Mindanao, LPGMA and YACAP are currently represented in the House by Maximo Rodriguez, Arnel Ty and Carol Jane Lopez.

Amin is not represented as it did not win in 2010. In previous Congresses, Mujiv Hataman was its representative. Hataman is the newly elected governor of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Last week, the Comelec proclaimed 14 party-list winners led by Buhay and Bayan Muna. At the same time, it made final the disqualification of four groups, including Senior Citizens’ Party and Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy.

Yesterday, Bayan Muna urged the Comelec to proclaim all winning party-list groups today.     

“Delay in proclamation leaves room for electoral fraud to be committed especially since, as the Comelec admitted, more than 18,000 PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machines failed to transmit results,” Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares said.

“While we are glad that we have been finally proclaimed, we cannot allow those who deserve a seat from not being proclaimed even if they got fewer votes than us. There is no reason for the delay considering that Comelec has declared that they have canvassed almost all the votes except the OAV (overseas absentee votes),” he said.

Colmenares estimates that Bayan Muna and Gabriela would have two representatives each, while Kabataan, Anakpawis and ACT Teachers would have one representative each.

These militant organizations are grouped under Makabayan coalition, which is headed by former Bayan Muna representative and now STAR columnist Satur Ocampo.