Palace Support for
Pro-Gloria Party Lists a Ground for Impeachment
Both Art. VI, Sec.
5 of the Constitution and Republic Act No. 7941 expressly reserve the
party-list system for marginalized and underrepresented groups. The
Supreme Court, in one of its landmark decisions, brought the matter
further by explicitly barring groups linked to or supported by the
government from participating in the party-list system.
BY ALEXANDER MARTIN
REMOLLINO
Bulatlat
Should it be proven that Malacañang
disbursed funds in support of pro-administration party-list groups, it
could constitute an impeachable offense on the part of President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo.
Both Art. VI, Sec. 5 of the Constitution
and Republic Act No. 7941 expressly reserve the party-list system for
marginalized and underrepresented groups. The Supreme Court, in one of its
landmark decisions, brought the matter further by explicitly barring
groups linked to or supported by the government from participating in the
party-list system.
In its decision on the 2001 case Ang
Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party v. Commission on Elections, et al, the
Supreme Court issued eight guidelines for screening party-list
participants. The fifth guideline states thus:
x x x (The) party or organization must not
be an adjunct of, or a project organized or an entity funded or assisted
by, the government. By the very nature of the party-list system, the party
or organization must be a group of citizens, organized by citizens and
operated by citizens. It must be independent of the government. The
participation of the government or its officials in the affairs of a
party-list candidate is not only illegal and unfair to other parties, but
also deleterious to the objective of the law: to enable citizens belonging
to marginalized and underrepresented sectors and organizations to be
elected to the House of Representatives.
The issue of government-backed party-list
groups participating in the elections was recently brought to the fore
when militant organizations and party-list groups including Gabriela
Women’s Party (GWP) and Anakpawis (Toiling Masses) exposed a memorandum to
the Office of the President from the Special Concerns Group of the Office
of External Affairs (OEA-SCG), which is headed by Assistant Secretary
Marcelo Fariñas II.
The memorandum is reported to have been
leaked by a disgruntled OEA employee. Fariñas has denied issuing the
memorandum.
The memorandum, dated Oct. 16, 2006 and
bearing Fariñas' signature, refers to an administration party-list
campaign with the following objectives:
“1. Provide full support to several
COMELEC accredited (party-list) groups that are ascertained to be
pro-administration and ensure the winning of nine (9) to twelve (12) seats
in the House of Representatives;
“2. Form a party-list bloc that will
support the plans and moves of the administration and help in countering
destabilization moves by the opposition as well as left-leaning party-list
groups; and
“3. Contribute in the overall campaign to
substantially lower the number of votes of leftist and left-leaning
party-list organizations, and in the process reduce the number of seats of
these anti-administration parties in the House of Representatives.”
The memorandum – of which Bulatlat
received a copy courtesy of Migrante International – specifically requests
for “funding assistance” from the Office of the President's intelligence
funds for the pro-administration party-list groups as well as the SCG.
Attached to the two-page memorandum is a
“confidential” party-list campaign proposal including a proposed budget of
P5.5 million from October to December 2006 ($107,192 based on the year's
average exchange rate of $1:P51.31). The campaign proposal identifies the
following as the four main party-list organizations to be supported:
Agbiag! Timpuyog Ilocano (Agbiag!), Babae para sa Kaunlaran (Babae Ka or
Women for Development), League of Youth for Peace and Development (LYPAD),
and Kalahi Advocates for Overseas Filipinos (Kalahi).
Three of these groups – Agbiag!, Babae Ka,
and Kalahi – are among 22 party-list organizations recently exposed as
“Malacañang and AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines) fronts” by the broad
anti-fraud coalition Kontra Daya, which is led by former Vice President
Teofisto Guingona, Jr. and Fr. Joe Dizon. Agbiag!, Babae Ka, and Kalahi
had all also figured in an earlier exposé by the party-list group Akbayan.
Fariñas himself is reported to be
secretary-general and one of the nominees of Agbiag! Babae Ka is
reportedly a member of Sigaw ng Bayan (People’s Clamor), a
pro-administration group that last year spearheaded a campaign to amend
the Constitution through "people's initiative" and has Sally Dagami and
Ruth Vasquez as its first and second nominees, respectively. Kalahi has as
its first nominee Poe Gratela, who claimed to be an activist before he
went over to the administration camp in 2004, led in forming the
pro-administration migrants' group Kaisang Bayan, and went on to work for
the OEA until recently.
“If it is proven that Malacañang disbursed
funds in support of those party-list groups, that violates the Anti-Graft
and Corrupt Practices Act,” said Judge Cleto Villacorta, a member of the
Board of Directors of the policy study institution Center for People
Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG), in an interview with Bulatlat.
“That is also an impeachable offense.”
Sec. 3 of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt
Practices Act (Republic Act No. 3019) classifies as a corrupt practice of
public officers the act of:
Knowingly approving or granting any
license, permit, privilege or benefit in favor of any person not qualified
for or not legally entitled to such license, permit, privilege or
advantage, or of a mere representative or dummy of one who is not so
qualified or entitled.
Graft and corrupt practices is one of four
impeachable offenses under the Constitution; the others are bribery,
betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.
The formation of these and other
party-list groups with dubious connections and funding has been assailed
as a move by Mrs. Arroyo to ensure additional votes that will be mobilized
to thwart a possible third impeachment against her at the House of
Representatives. It has also been denounced as part of government attempts
to mangle the constitutional provision that calls for the representation
of poor classes and sectors in the legislature and to evict the Left and
other progressive groups from Congress.
Bulatlat
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