SPEAKER Feliciano R, Belmonte, Jr. yesterday called on the Commission on Elections to reconsider its decision disqualifying the Senior Citizens sector, one of those who topped the party list elections for which it should be entitled to two seats in the House of Representatives.
Belmonte said it is unfair and unjust for the Comelec to disqualify the Senior Citizens its rightful representation merely on the ground that it submitted a term-sharing agreement for two sets of nominees.
Belmonte said the Comelec should include the Senior Citizens among those proclaimed as winners in the party list elections and require the sector to submit a new list of nominees.
“The Senior Citizens now constitute about 17 percent of the country’s population for which it certainly deserves to be represented in Congress as a marginalized sector. The party and the sector it represents should not suffer for whatever unlawful agreements were entered into by its nominees,” he added.
The Speaker stressed that the decision of the Comelec is tantamount to a denial of the sector’s right to be represented in the House which they secured in the last elections.
The sector ranked number 10 in the winners’ list of party list election. Under the law and the formula for party-list allocation of the 58 seats in the House, the Senior Citizens should be accorded two seats in the incoming 16th Congress.