Media Release
March 29, 2010
Kontra-Daya, COURAGE, Migrante, Kilusang Mayo Uno, Gabriela, Kadamay and other militant groups today stormed the COMELEC office to condemn the poll body’s blatant leniency in allowing GMA-backed partylists to run in the 2010 elections.
The militants called on the public to junk Arroyo’s collaborators in the upcoming polls. A number of GMA allies and former cabinet officials were discovered to be partylist nominees when the filing ended last Friday.
Government funds and resources will most likely be used to finance the campaign of these bogus partylists, said Kontra Daya convenor and COURAGE National President Ferdinand Gaite. He added that the grand plan to install Arroyo as Speaker of the 15th Congress through the ‘House of Arroyo’ is a double whammy to the Filipino people. “They are bastardizing the partylist system and at the same time spending the people’s money to advance their political ambitions.
While millions of Filipinos are suffering from severe poverty and hunger, they still have the audacity to waste billions of pesos. These should have been allocated to education, housing, health and other social services that shall ease the dismal condition of our countrymen,” the leader asserted.
Citing the case of COURAGE Partylist which was earlier rejected by the poll body for alleged lack of national constuency, Gaite decried COMELEC’s double standards in accrediting partylists. “We are so enraged after seeing the list of accredited partylists. While the Commissioners claimed that they have already purged bogus groups, more or less 50 percent of the 187 accredited partylists were obviously government-sponsored. On the other hand, they have unjustly barred progressive groups such as COURAGE and Migrante who genuinely represent the marginalized government workers and overseas Filipino workers (OFW), respectively,” he said.
COURAGE pointed out that this is an insult to those who fought for the institutionalization of the Partylist System. “The marginalized sectors were in the forefront of the struggle that ended the Marcos dictatorship and brought about the 1987 Constitution which included provisions for the partylist system. Nakakalungkot at nakakagalit lang na ang mga lumaban noon para magkaroon ng partylist system ay siyang mga hindi pinapayagan ngayon na lumahok,” the militants lamented.
Kontra-Daya also expressed support for transport group PISTON who today filed a disqualification case against former Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, the first nominee of 1-UTAK.
The protesters announced that until the poll body disallows GMA-backed partylist nominees, they shall continue to barrage the COMELEC with series of mass actions. Other than filing of disqualification cases against the groups and individuals they have identified as Arroyo’s dummies, the militants also plan to hound the national headquarters of GMA-backed partylists and candidates.
Reference: Ferdinand Gaite
Kontra Daya Convenor
