MANILA, Philippines (2nd UPDATE) – Led by the leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), petitioners like Archbishop Oscar Cruz asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday, October 24, to disqualify party-list group Akbayan from the 2013 mid-term elections. 

“Akbayan is a party in power,” Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes told reporters, referring to Akbayan’s ties to the Aquino administration. Top Akbayan members now occupy government positions, as in the case of presidential adviser Secretary Ronald Llamas, Commission on Human Rights chair Loretta Ann Rosales, and National Anti-Poverty Commission chair Joel Rocamora. 

“Mahiya naman po kayo, Akbayan, sa inyong mga mukha dahil nga po ‘yung mga totoong marginalized ay wala ho talaga sa kalingkingan ng inabot n’yo na,” Reyes said. (Shame on you, Akbayan, because the genuinely marginalized have a long way to go to get to your position.)

He also accused Akbayan of using government resources to boost their party. “‘Yan po ay undue advantage, unfair advantage, doon sa mga totoong marginalized at walang boses at walang kinatawan sa loob ng pamahalaan,” Reyes said. (That is undue advantage, unfair advantage, over those who are truly marginalized and voiceless and underrepresented within the government.) (Watch more in the video below.)

Hitting back

Akbayan, for its part, said it has not received a copy of the formal petition to disqualify the party. Previously, groups have asked the Comelec to disqualify it, but Akbayan media officer Emman Hizon noted that “the so-called petitions filed before were merely letters.”

Nevertheless, Hizon downplayed the petitioners’ claims. “They’re attacking us because we’ve been successful in what we’re doing,” he said in a phone interview with Rappler.

Hizon added “the marginalized can never be overrepresented.” He said: “To say that certain marginalized groups are overrepresented in government, is anti-poor in itself,” and added that the petition is “anti-reform” and “contrary to the spirit of the partylist system.”

An Akbayan ally, the Pambansang Katipunan ng mga Samahan sa Kanayunan, in another statement criticized the disqualification complaint. Group spokesperson Uper Aleroza questioned the petition’s timing.

“The petition against Akbayan is obvious harassment… If this were a bona fide petition, they should have filed it early on when the representatives of Akbayan pointed out the lack of a formal petition,” Aleroza said in a statement.

The petition is the latest episode in the current war between the affiliates of Bayan and Akbayan. They belong to different groups in the Left political spectrum.

In 2010, they supported rival presidential bets. Bayan and its allies backed the candidacy of Sen Manuel Villar of the Nacionalista Party, while Akbayan backed President Benigno Aquino III.

Like Aquino, Akbayan stood out in 2010 after it got the 4th highest number of votes in the party-list elections. It got 1,061,947 votes, trailing the frontrunner Ako Bicol Political Party, the Coalition of Associations of Senior Citizens in the Philippines Inc, and Buhay Hayaang Yumabong, a party-list group supported by the religious movement El Shaddai.

For the 2013 elections, Akbayan and Bayan’s affiliates are vying for party-list seats. In the senatorial race, Akbayan is supporting the candidacy of senatorial bet Risa Hontiveros, former Akbayan representative in Congress, while Bayan and allies are campaigning for senatorial candidate Teddy Casiño, the incumbent representative of Bayan Muna.

Bayan and its affiliates are identified with the radical Left and are accused by the military as front organizations of the underground Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), a claim they have repeatedly denied. Akbayan, on the other hand, is composed of socialists, social democrats, and former members of the CPP.

Only last week, Bayan affiliates disrupted a press conference held by Akbayan.

Comelec’s say

Reyes told reporters in Comelec that the poll body is obliged to accept the complaint based on its rules, which allows petitioners to file these petitions any time.

The Comelec, for its part, is set to rule on Akbayan’s qualifications to join the 2013 elections any time soon. The poll body has disqualified several party-list groups, including incumbent ones like 2010’s frontrunner, Ako Bicol, which is perceived to be allied with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The multisectoral group also includes Kontra Daya’s Fr Joe Dizon, Hacienda Luisita peasant leader Rodel Mesa, Pamalakaya Southern Tagalog’s Peter Gonzalez, Santiago Dasmarinas Jr of the Confederation for the Unity, Recognition, and Advancement of Government Employees, the National Union of Students of the Philippines’ Isabelle Therese Baguisi, University of the Philippines student regent Cleve Kevin Robert Arguelles, and Karapatan’s Cristina Palabay. 

In a statement, the group said Akbayan “is already a party in power, is no longer marginalized, and is in fact overrepresented in government.” – Rappler.com