Youth Party to File Contempt Raps vs Akbayan

Based on reports of Anak ng Bayan poll watchers and volunteers of allied candidates and other progressive party-list groups, ballots containing “Anakbayan,” especially in the Mindanao and Metro Manila regions, were accounted for Akbayan! Citizens Action Party instead of Anak ng Bayan.

BY EMILY VITAL
Bulatlat.com

containing “Anakbayan,” especially in the Mindanao and Metro Manila regions, were accounted for Akbayan! Citizens Action Party instead of Anak ng Bayan, Alvarez, the youth party’s lead House nominee also said.  

Darwin Atamosa of Barangay Conel, Gen. Santos City attested to such a complaint in his affidavit. He was assigned by the Anak ng Bayan Task Force Poll Watch to monitor the proceedings at the Conel Elementary School poll center.

He attested that a certain Mrs. Busano, BEI of precinct # 0168-B, justified the said move based on an Appeal Letter released by Akbayan.

In a similar incident, Ronel Azarcon of Dadiangas North, Gen. Santos City, who was assigned to monitor the Banisil Elementary School poll center, attested that a member of the BEI was “trying to influence her counterparts” into crediting “Anakbayan” votes to “Akbayan.” She allegedly refused to listen when Azarcon read and showed her certain provisions in the Election Code to correct her assertions, saying that “she already got an advice from the Comelec that accordingly favors her stance.”

“That because of my firm conviction, I immediately went to the Comelec office….I found out that the Comelec did not issue such a ruling or advice. In fact, I had spoken to Atty. Susan Lilian Suan-Radam and got her opinion that ‘Anakbayan’…should be credited to Anak ng Bayan,” Azarcon’s affidavit stated.

A NAMFREL volunteer in Digos, Davao Sur, is also preparing his affidavit as of press time.

Contempt

Party-list counsel Neri Colminares warned that Akbayan could be charged with contempt and undue influence. “They made it appear [as if] it’s [the letter] a Comelec sanction,” he said. “It’s below the belt. To a certain degree, Akbayan tends to influence the BEI.”

On March 9, Akbayan filed a petition to the Comelec compelling Anak ng Bayan to change its name. The petition was dismissed by the Comelec May 6.

Alvarez said, “Hence, Akbayan could be charged with contempt because they released their letter to the BEI after the Comelec had decided to junk Akbayan’s petition.”

Stolen votes

Eric Jun Casilao, Anak ng Bayan 2^nd nominee, said, “In the Davao region alone, we have lost an estimated 10,000 votes because of these incidents.”

According to Alvarez, “For the record, Akbayan claims that, on the contrary, Akbayan votes were the ones credited to Anak ng Bayan. They even went so far as to accuse us of insulting the public’s intelligence by ‘debunking the simple fact that voters still know how to spell.’ We would like to remind Etta (Rosales) and company that it was they, in the first place, who filed a petition to the Comelec at the onset of the campaign, compelling us to change our name because ‘it may cause confusion’ among voters. Who is insulting who now?”

Alvarez added that this move merely showed Akbayan’s desperation as it was threatened by the command votes which the youth will and has delivered for Anak ng Bayan.

“Their claim that Akbayan ‘draws substantial strength from the youth in its ranks’ cannot be any farther from the truth. In the past two Congresses, they have done nothing to address pertinent issues of the youth on education and employment. Now they say that they welcome youth representation in Congress but their actions prove otherwise,” he pointed out.

Administration party list

He added, “It is Akbayan who is under the illusion that they represent the youth and other marginalized sectors. Its third nominee, Risa Hontiveros, belongs to the GRP Peace Panel and is clearly a negotiator for the incumbent administration. Furthermore, we maintain that Norberto Gonzales has found a convenient agent in Etta in his malicious communist-tagging against us and other progressive party-lists. They have no need to forge formal alliances with administration candidates because they are clearly united with them in principle.” Bulatlat.com

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