Partylist group Ating Guro staged a protest outside the Commission on Elections asking to nullify the granting of a second seat to the partylist group Coop-NATCCO.
(UNTV News)
MANILA, Philippines — Teachers who belong to the group Ating Guro rallied outside the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) in protest of the poll body’s decision to award the seat in Congress intended for their party to another organization.
Benjo Basas, who is the 1st nominee of Ating Guro, said their own computation and even the initial announcement of COMELEC shows that they are entitled to one seat in the House of Representatives after garnering more than 230,000 votes.
However to their surprise, they were not included among the 46 groups that the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) proclaimed to be the winners in the partylist race.
“Around 11 a.m. of May 19, we were included in the list of groups that will be allocated 1 seat. That was also what was indicated in the program for proclamation that we will be given 1 seat and we are the last party in the winning circle,” Basas said in a statement.
“For us, this is illegal, this is not in consonance with the seat allocation prescribed under the banat vs. Comelec ruling of the supreme court in 2009,” he added.
The group was not given a chance to argue their case during the proclamation but was instructed by the NBOC to submit a written manifestation.
Today, Ating Guro submitted their petition asking the COMELEC to correct the apparent error in their computation and allot to them 1 of the 59 seats intended for the marginalized sector representation in Congress.
The group says, the seat intended for them was awarded to Coop-NATCCO who now has two seats.
However, Ating Guro stresses that Coop-NATCCO is only entitled to one.
This same incident also happened to Ating Guro in 2013 which they appealed up to the Supreme Court.
“The 2016 elections is finished but the Supreme Court has not yet acted on our petition,” Basas expressed his sentiment.
COMELEC has yet to respond on the issue.
(VICTOR COSARE/UNTV News)
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