Draft Should Comelec Disqualify Akbayan

Should Comelec disqualify Akbayan?

by Voltaire Tupaz

IN POWER. Akbayan leaders during the party-list's 2011 victory party. Photo from Akbayan's Facebook account

MANILA, Philippines - Is Akbayan's proximity to the corridors of power an indication that it has ceased to represent the marginalized? Its critics are asking this question.

Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, Akbayan spokesperson, has been seen with President Benigno Aquino III in various photo opportunities. She ran for the Senate under the President's ticket in 2010 but lost. She is seeking a second senatorial run for the May 2013 polls under the administration slate.

When Aquino won the presidency, many Akbayan party-list leaders were appointed to various positions in government.

Former Akbayan president and the party-list group's first representative in Congress, Loretta Ann Rosales, was appointed chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights. Joel Rocamora, another former Akbayan president, was designated National Anti-Poverty Commission head. Percival Cendaña, former Akbayan national chairperson, became commissioner-at-large of the National Youth Commission.

Presidential political affairs adviser Ronald Llamas was former Akbayan president. President Aquino defended Llamas when he came under fire when TV cameras caught an AK-47 in his car after it figured in an accident and when he himself was caught on camera buying fake DVDs.

"They cannot possibly claim that they are marginalized and underrepresented when their leaders hold various positions in government," Anakbayan national chairperson Vencer Crisostomo said in a statement over the weekend.

Favored party-list?

Anakbayan called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to disqualify Akbayan, claiming that the party-list group is President Aquino's "favorite."

“Allowing Akbayan to run is like allowing Malacañang and the President's KKK (kaklase, kaibigan, kabarilan -- in reference to the President's classmates, friends and shooting buddies) to run...