Party-list groups asked to bare names of nominees Jerome Aning Philippine Daily Inquirer
November 05, 2009
MANILA, Philippines—Party-list groups seeking to participate in the 2010 elections should be prepared to make public the names of their nominees, the Commission on Elections said Thursday.
Noting that it’s the parties, and not individual candidates, that are being voted to the House of Representatives, Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said people are entitled to know who the party-list nominees are.
The nominees might not even belong to the sector that the party-list group purports to represent, he said.
Otherwise, the poll body would itself reveal the names of the nominees, Melo said.
According to Comelec Resolution 8691, dated November 3 but issued only Thursday, the list of nominees should be submitted to the poll body no later than March 26, 2010. Each group should have no less than five nominees.
The resolution also gave party-list groups between Nov. 20 and midnight of December 1 to file their “manifestation of intent to participate” in the 2010 elections.
Although he did not say when the list of nominees would be made public, Melo said the Comelec would make sure that there would be ample time for the public and other groups to scrutinize the list.
“We will see how we can make it mandatory for the party-list groups to come out with the names of their nominees in public. We are looking at issuing an amendment resolution,” Melo said.
In the 2007 elections, it took a ruling from the Supreme Court to compel the Comelec to release the names of party-list nominees, which was done just 10 days before election day.
Party-list groups critical of the Arroyo administration claimed that about a dozen of the accredited groups were “Malacañang fronts” that allegedly received funds from the government, or were fielding nominees who were government officials appointed by the President.
According to Resolution 8691, a party-list nominee should be a natural-born citizen of the Philippines; a registered voter; a resident of the Philippines for a period of not less than one year; able to read and write; and is a bona-fide member of the party or organization which he seeks to represent for at least 90 days before election day.
The nominee must also be at least 25 years old on the day of the election. He or she should belong to the marginalized and under-represented sector, the sectoral party, organization, political party or coalition he seeks to represent; and is able to contribute to the formulation and enactment of appropriate legislation that would benefit the nation as a whole.
More than 300 groups have filed for party-list accreditation. Their cases are still being heard by the two divisions of the commission. Some 25 groups that were earlier delisted by Comelec also have pending motions for reconsideration.
The 1987 Constitution sets aside 20 percent of seats in the House of Representatives for party-list groups.
Republic Act 7941, or the Party-List System Act of 1995, requires a group to win at least two percent of all the votes cast for party-list to be entitled to at least one seat in the House. A group that fails to win or participate in two consecutive elections would be delisted.
