Commissioners' resignation sought for letting Mikey sit in House

A coalition of leftist groups demanded the resignation of the election commissioners who allowed Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, son of former President Gloria Arroyo, to sit in the 15th Congress and represent security guards.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) said on Wednesday allowing Mikey to sit as the representative of the “Ang Galing Pinoy" (AGP) party-list is a "gross violation" of the party-list law.

On Tuesday, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) allowed Mikey to be the nominee of AGP in the House of Representatives.

The four Comelec commissioners who allowed Mikey to represent AGP were: Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle, Armando Velasco and Elias Yusoph. Those who dissented were Commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Gregorio Larrazabal.

"With its decision, the four Comelec commissioners who voted in favor of Mikey have shown utter incompetence and even partiality towards the previous appointing power," said Renato Reyes Jr., secretary general of Bayan.

"These commissioners cannot be trusted to carry out their mandate of ensuring that the laws related to the elections are correctly upheld," Reyes said in a statement on the Bayan website.

“They appear incapable of understanding the law. They have lost the trust of the electorate. They must resign," he said.

Reyes singled out Ferrer, whom he accused of allegedly "accrediting en masse dubious party-list groups."

He claimed that Ferrer is also allegedly responsible for accrediting the Batang Iwas Droga (BIDA), an entity funded by the Phillippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

The funding allegedly given by Pagcor to BIDA is now the subject of a government investigation, he noted.

"It is a basic tenet of the party-list system, as articulated by the Supreme Court, that a partylist group cannot be an entity funded by government. Yet Ferrer chose to look the other way and accredited BIDA," Reyes said.

On the other hand, Reyes said Mikey’s attendance at the opening of the 15th session of congress, when President Aquino delivers his first State of the Nation Address, is "meant to insult the Filipino people and taunt the new administration."

"It is a grim reminder that the much-despised Arroyos are still very much in power," he said.

Reyes said the Aquino administration should now exert efforts to block the return of Mikey to the House of Representatives.

"There can be no ‘daang matuwid (righteous path)' if Mikey makes a mockery of election laws, the party-list system and the House of Representatives," he said.

Source: GmaNews