AN APPEAL TO THE COMELEC TO IMMEDIATELY PROCLAIM 11 PARTY LIST GROUPS AS WINNERS IN THE MAY 10, 2010 ELECTIONS

FACTS

On May 31, 2010 the COMELEC, sitting en banc as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) determined that 39 out of the 179 party lists groups may be allotted with party list seats. However, only 28 party lists groups were proclaimed, in view of the fact that the proclamation of 11 out of the first 39 party list groups was deferred “until final resolution of their respective cases, in order not to render the proceedings therein moot and academic”. Said party list groups have either pending petitions filed against them either for cancellation of registration or disqualification of their nominees. The party list groups whose proclamations have been deferred are the following:

Rank:
01 - Ako Bicol Partylist (3 seats, 1,522,986 votes)
03 - Buhay (2 seats, 1,249,555 votes)
07 - 1-Care (2 seats; 768,829 votes)
11 - Cibac (1 seat; 647,483 votes)
12 - A Teacher (1 seat; 614,725 votes)
14 - Butil (1 seat; 506,703 votes)
18 - LPGMA (1 seat; 417,600 votes)
21 - AAMBIS-OWA (1 seat; 357,009 votes)
23 - APEC (1 seat; 313,359 votes)
26 - ANAD (1 seat; 292,057 votes)
37 - 1-Utak (1 seat; 220,002 votes)
TOTAL: 6,910,308 VOTES


As of the present date, the said party lists have not been proclaimed by the NBOC.

OBSERVATIONS

DEFERRAL OF PROCLAMATION IS A DISENFRANCHISEMENT OF 6,910,308 VOTERS

The bedrock of democracy is an honest, fair, clean, orderly elections. The 11 party list groups whose proclamations were deferred were elected by a total of 6,910,308 Filipinos whose votes were validly and legitimately casted during the May 10 elections. The essence of democracy frowns upon any action or interpretation of the law that would hinder the free and intelligent casting and appreciation of the votes in an election. The NBOC has to respect the will of the electorate and adhere to the democratic foundations of our nation by proclaiming the 11 party list groups the soonest possible.

DEFERRAL OF PROCLAMATION IS A BAD PRECEDENT

The cases filed against the 11 party list groups are either petitions for cancellation of registration or for disqualification of party list nominee. Majority of the petitions were only filed after the May 10 elections. In fact, a significant number of the cases were filed on May 29, 2010, or a mere 2 days before the ruling of the NBOC. This decision to defer proclamation has set for all an extremely bad precedent. The NBOC has left the door wide open to harassment suits that may be filed by the not so fortunate party-list groups, who knows not the meaning of the word “concede”, thereby creating a mockery of the will of the Filipino people.

DEFERRAL OF PROCLAMATION IS UNREASONABLE

Legally, suspension of a proclamation is usually allowed when there is a pre-proclamation controversy, which may only be raised due to illegal proceedings of the board of canvassers, irregularity of the election returns, or similar cases questioning the regularity of the canvassing of votes. Questions concerning the party list registration or the qualification of nominees are clearly NOT questions related to the canvassing. Hence, the NBOC should not have deferred the proclamations since the petitions against the 11 party list groups are not pre-proclamation controversies.

DEFERRAL OF PROCLAMATION IS UNFAIR

All party list groups underwent an accreditation procedure set by the COMELEC, including publication thereof in 2 newspapers of general circulation and a period to file oppositions thereto. It is unfair that after diligently complying with the registration procedure, then rigorously campaigning on a national level and finally garnering sufficient votes to be declared winners, the 11 party lists were not proclaimed due to petitions belatedly filed beyond the period allowed and even after the votes were already casted and counted. It is likewise unfair that only the petitions filed against the 11 party list groups were recognized as valid bases to defer proclamations. Party list Ang Tambay filed a petition for the disqualification of 133 party list groups but the party lists included therein were proclaimed nonetheless. In fact, it is public knowledge that Ang Galing Pinoy has a pending case for the disqualification of their nominees but it was proclaimed on May 31, 2010 in the same resolution issued by the NBOC.

APPEAL

The Filipino people have made known their choice of the party-list groups that would be their voice in the House of Representatives. That choice must be respected. Time is of the essence and there is now an urgent need to proclaim the 11 party list groups as a winning party list groups. Right or title to elective office must not be left long under cloud otherwise public administration will suffer.

We therefore appeal to the COMELEC, as the NBOC, to IMMEDIATELY PROCLAIM AAMBIS-OWA, AKB, ANAD, APEC, ATEACHER, BUHAY, BUTIL, CIBAC, LPGMA, 1-CARE and 1-UTAK as party list winners in the May 10, 2010 elections.

ANAD hails lifting of martial law in Maguindanao

“THE LIFTING of Presidential Proclamation 1959 is a manifestation of government’s sensitivities and full reliance on factual developments on the ground,” said ANAD Partylist Rep. Jun Alcover in reaction to the lifting of martial law in the province of Maguindanao, in the evening of Saturday (December 12, 2009).

The ALLIANCE FOR NATIONALISM AND DEMOCRACY (ANAD) Partylist supports PP 1959’s imposition in the face of the so-called looming rebellion brought about by the total collapse in the delivery of basic and judicial services by the local government of that province, and the continued resistance by thousands of armed supporters of the Ampatuan family, a known political warlord in the area.

“We, in ANAD, were all out in support of government’s initiative to restore public order, return of the delivery of basic services by government, and the justiciable resolution of the Nov. 22 massacre of 57 hapless civilians, including 30 media personalities, in Masalay, Maguindanao,” Rep. Alcover pointed out.

“The lifting of PP 1959 or its imposition was a prerogative solely vested by the constitution on the country’s Chief Executive,” said Rep. Alcover even as he describes the petitioners against PP 1959 before the Supreme Court and the number of mass protest actions as grandstanding and hallowed noise.

Rep. Alcover cited the fact that the short-lived martial rule, in Maguindanao, “clearly shows President Macapagal-Arroyo’s adeptness to the rule of law and resiliency towards factual happenings in the field. Here, the President has made an unequivocal statement of her commitment towards justice and truth which is directly in contrast to what her detractors had been saying, time and again,” Alcover added.

On the continued tirades by Maoist terrorist sectoral front and pseudo partylist personalities even with the lifting of martial law, with a shrug of a shoulder, Alcover said, “What can we expect from these people? They always take up and make use of any issue against government to advance their lost cause. Maka-libre sila ng exposure, di ba?” Alcover quipped.

“With the lifting of martial law, Congress should now focus on a number of vital bills, like the 2010 national budget and other pro-people measures, which our people needs,” he stressed.

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Reference: Rey A. Salas
National Spokesman
Tel No. (02) 489-7662

TODAY’S ‘INTERNATIONAL DAY OF POLITICAL PRISONERS’ IS BOGUS

DAVAO CITY – Today’s sixth commemoration of the so-called International Day of Political Prisoners is bogus.

The Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) Partylist in Mindanao made the declaration in view of the reported plan by the communist front Samahan ng mga Ex-Detainees Laban sa Detensyon at para sa Amnestiya (SELDA) to hold early this afternoon a picket rally infront of Davao City’s First Congressional District Office on Quirino Ave. here.

ANAD Partylist-Mindanao pointed out that the self-anointed International League of People’s Struggle (ILPS) that supposedly declared the celebration on Dec. 3, 2003 is nothing but another creation of Communist Party of the Philippines Chairman Jose Ma. Sison to implement the party’s international solidarity works as required in its Protracted People’s War (PPW).

In relation to the PPW, ILPS also supports to CPP-NPA-NDF’s “machinery build-up, general offensive and general uprising,” ANAD Partylist exposed in a press release sent out by its Mindanao Spokesman Art Tariman.

Jose Ma. Sison continues to hold the ILPS chairmanship since its founding on May 25, 2001 in Zutphen, The Netherlands.

The other ILPS founding officers were the late Anak Pawis Partylist Congressman Crispin Beltran as Chairman of the International Coordinating Group, Cherry Clemente as ICC First Deputy, former Anak Pawis Partylist Congressman Rafael Mariano as ICC Member and ILPS-Philippines Head, and Gabriela Partylist Congresswoman Liza Maza as ICC Member.

According to ANAD Partylist, ILPS aims to exploit the following 18 subjective concerns and issues to help attain the objective condition of the revolution: national liberation, socio-economic development, human rights, just peace, independent trade union and workers' rights, agrarian reform women's rights, youths’ right to education and employment, children's rights, indigenous peoples’ rights, teachers and educators’ rights, people’s right to health, science & technology, and environmental protection, arts and culture and free flow of information, justice for the victims of illegal arrest and detention, rights of the homeless, migrants and refugees, rights of the elderly, and rights of homosexuals, bisexuals and trans-gendered.

The activities of ILPS revolves around the stimulation, facilitation and coordination of common lines of action, the undertaking of definitive actions on its 18 concerns and issues, the cooperation with all possible organizations, institutions and personalities to attain the ILPS aims and purposes, explained ANAD Partylist, adding that ILPS’ current tasks include the following:
• Express solidarity and support whenever necessary;
• Double efforts to establish national chapters;
• Take political initiative to promote anti-imperialist and democratic lines;
• Consult and seek drafts from participating organizations and study commissions;
• Attract participating organizations belonging to countries where anti-imperialist and democratic struggles of the people are intense; and
Cooperate with other anti-imperialist coordinating centers and frameworks to gain access to and cooperate with other mass formations that are not yet within the ILPS. (ANAD PARTLIST-MINDANAO INFONEWS BUREAU email: anadpartylist_mindanao@yahoo.com)

ANAD hits continued CPP-NDF recruitment of Filipino youth and students

The ALLIANCE FOR NATIONALISM AND DEMOCRACY (ANAD) Partylist denounce and condemn, in strongest terms, the unabated use of the youth and minors, especially students, by the Maoist communist-terrorist CPP-NPA-NDF against the duly constituted democratic and free government of the Republic of the Philippines.

Rep. Jun Alcover of ANAD Partylist describes as outrageous and highly condemnable the CPP-NPA-NDF’S utter disregard of the international conventions and the laws of our country on the protection of the rights of the youth that would ensure a better future of our youth in the community of free and democratic nations of the world.

This is Rep. Alcover’s reaction to the arrest of Maria Carla Alvarico, a licensed nurse, graduate of Velez College; Carlo Hernandez Cabahug, a graduate of computer technology at the University of San Carlos; and Absin Glenn Filamer, a political science student of the University of Cebu, after shooting it out against elements of the 79th IB, PA, last Sunday (October 18) in Sitio Pulang Yuta, Barangay Mayabon, Zamboanguita, Negros Oriental. During the same incident, one of their companion identified as Reden Carpentero, aka Rodel, 20 yrs old, was found dead, beside a creek, some 200 meters from the encounter site.

“This is horrible considering their continued avowals as protectors of our youth’s political and human rights and ensuring better future to our young, the Maoist communists incessantly are manipulating and abusing the idealism of our youth by inculcating on them the demonic Maoist communist ideology whose obsession is violence and destruction of human life and that of our country,” Rep. Alcover explained.

He pointed to the two PUP students: Albert Estrada and Regina Obiso, who were duped by the sweet-talking and glib-tongued Maoist communist recruitment specialists into joining the armed communist-terrorist, New Peoples Army, in the Southern Tagalog area.

“ANAD strongly warns all freedom and democratic loving Filipinos, especially parents whose children are subjected to recruitment by CPP political operatives, to be always on the wary and be on guard to safeguard their children,” Alcover said.

“What happened to the three arrested NPAs, former leaders of the College Editors Guild of the Philippine (CEGP), could very well happen to your children if we remain complacent and defy the call of the times to be on guard against Maoist communist-terrorist influence whose penchant for deception and lies continues to hold sway,” Alcover stressed.