PRES. ARROYO SCORED FOR DESTROYING PARTY LIST SYSTEM

PRES. ARROYO SCORED FOR DESTROYING PARTY LIST SYSTEM:
Voters should remember those who will vote for her speakership bid

NOW IT IS VERY CLEAR. Pres. Gloria Arroyo’s attempt to dominate Congress has practically destroyed the party list system, exploiting the erroneous Supreme Court formula in Banat vs Comelec, to field GMA proxy party list groups in the recent elections. Bayan Muna estimates that more than twenty GMA backed party list groups will get seats in Congress. “Pres. Arroyo focused her resources and funding on allies running in the party list and district congressional elections to ensure her speakership in the House of Representatives” said Rep. Teddy Casino. “ She made sure that her party list groups with her dummies as nominees have more than enough funds to top the party list vote through the support of her LGU allies and TV ads which marginalized and underrepresented party list groups like Bayan Muna does not have.”

“People should remember in the next party list elections all the party list groups that will vote for Pres. Arroyo as speaker. There are two numbers that she wants to achieve here. She needs at least 96 votes to impeach the new president and a total of 144 members to become speaker of the House. With her party list proxies, she could achieve both numbers” said Rep. Neri Colmenares. “The Supreme Court should review its Banat decision now that its erroneously unproportional formula has been abused by politicians and big business wanting a cheap way to get into congress.”

Despite the speed with which the results were reported in the 2010 elections, Bayan Muna remains concerned with the uncanvassed votes especially in the ARMM region. “The canvassing in the ARMM is always delayed, without exception. This will allow national politicians including party list groups to buy votes in the area during the delay. We ask the Comelec to immediately intervene and arrest this delay”, said Rep. Teddy Casino.

“The 2010 election should be assessed on the basis of two factors, internal fraud which pertains to fraud in the operations of the PCOs and external fraud which is committed whether or not the elections are automated such as vote buying, terrorism, and illegal campaigning” said Rep. Colmenares. “While internal fraud is still subject to the random manual audit, it is clear that there was widespread external fraud putting into question the capacity of the Comelec to ensure that the will of the voters are credibly reflected in the ballots. Comelec has failed to act on complaints filed by Bayan Muna against military officers illegally using government resources to campaign against Bayan Muna and other progressive candidates. This is surely a major black eye as far as the party list elections are concerned”, he added.

“It is only through the perseverance and determination of the voters, teachers and poll watchdogs and the vigilance of the Filipino people that we managed to preempt a failure of election”, said Rep. Casino. “While we condemn the massive vote buying, threats and illegal campaigning that took place during the elections, Bayan Muna hails the Filipino people and the teachers who manned the polls for their heroic acts to ensure that Pres. Arroyo will not have the justification to perpetuate herself in power,” he concluded.

Comelec and PPCRV urged to publicly tally party list results

DELAY IN CANVASSING IN ARMM DEPLORED:
Comelec and PPCRV urged to publicly tally party list results

BAYAN MUNA is seriously concerned about the failure of the Comelec and the PPCRV to publicly tally the results of the party list elections. “Second rate public officials ba ang tingin ng Comelec at PPCRV sa party list? They must note that it is the progressive party list groups that was in the forefront of exposing and opposing the graft and corruption cases and anti-people policies of President Arroyo”, said Bayan Muna representative Teddy Casino. “This is marginalization of the marginalized.” We demand that PPCRV perform their function as an election watchdog and also cover the party list results. When they applied for accreditation, they are bound to also publicly tally the party list votes,” he concluded.

Bayan Muna representative Neri Javier Colmenares also condemned the serious omission because it will encourage fraud in the party list election. “This absence of information only makes it possible for fraud to be committed especially since there are rich pro Arroyo nominees running in the party list. Many party list groups got a lot of votes in the ARMM areas in 2007. Now that the ARMM results are delayed, it will not surprise us if fraud is again being committed there. We heard that national results for senators and party list are not being canvassed in these areas. We will file charges against board of canvassers refusing to canvass these national posts,” said Rep. Colmenares. “We are calling on the Comelec and leaders of concerned political parties to go to the ARMM areas and guard their votes,” he added.

Progressive party list groups like Bayan Muna and progressive candidates Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza were victims of massive black propaganda during the campaign. “Our posters were defaced, and large streamers saying people shouldn’t vote for us because we are NPAs littered streets all over the country. Public officials received letters threatening them if they support us. This campaign against Bayan Muna cost millions only to ensure a decrease in our votes,” said Rep. Colmenares. “Vote buying and huge campaign spending by rich party list groups also marred the election. Bayan Muna votes may have suffered because of these attacks but we are still happy that the people's vigilance and determination to vote managed to preempt a possible failure of election which will only play into the hands of Pres. Arroyo.”

Clean Up

Bayan Muna also announced that it will help clean up the garbage resulting from the election campaign. “We will focus in helping clean up schools. Bayan Muna will also study a proposed bill that will only allow bio degradable materials for election propaganda. Maybe we can minimize solid waste pollution during campaign periods,” said Rep. Teddy Casino.

Used tarpaulin streamers may also be donated to Bayan Muna (# 45 K-7 Street, West Kamias, Quezon City) for recycling into tarp-bags, as demonstrated by Bayan Muna Payatas Chapter's tarp-bag making activity last April 21 in celebration of Earth Day.

APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF JUSTICE DESPITE LACK OF URGENCY CONDEMNED

APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF JUSTICE DESPITE LACK OF URGENCY CONDEMNED:

Constitutional crisis feared

BAYAN MUNA condemns Pres. Gloria Arroyo’s appointment of a Chief Justice despite the constitutional prohibition and the absence of urgency to appoint a Chief Justice. This is nothing more than an attempt by Pres. Arroyo to load the dice in her favor once plunder charges are filed against her when her presidential immunity ceases on June 30, 2010.

“Sen. Noynoy Aquino is clearly the next president of the Philippines. There is no constitutional crisis that urgently requires the appointment, thanks to the people’s vigilance to ensure that there is no failure of election” said Bayan Muna representative Neri Javier Colmenares. “In fact, it is possible that this appointment could lead to a constitutional crisis if Sen. Aquino will challenge the constitutionality of the appointment as he promised during the campaign. Paalis na lang si Pangulong Arroyo, nag iwan pa ng problema” he added.

Rep. Colmenares, who is also a human rights lawyer, said that the Supreme Court decision in De Castro vs. JBC only discusses the submission by the JBC of the list to Malacanang and cannot therefore be used to justify the appointment of the Chief Justice. “Bayan Muna intends to file many cases not only against Pres. Arroyo but also her subordinates for graft and corruption, extra judicial killings and electoral fraud. The judicial system must be perceived as impartial when trying these cases” Rep. Colmenares declared.