“POLITICAL harassment.”
This is how youth groups describe the ongoing campaign of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to disqualify progressive partylists.
Youth groups led by Kabataan Partylist charged to the Comelec main office at around 11 a.m. today to denounce the continuing “harassment” and “smear campaign” of the commission against progressive partylists.
Comelec concluded the en banc hearing on the reported cases of campaign poster violations last week and is set to release a decision either this week or the next.
Kabataan and Piston Partylists, member of the progressive Makabayan bloc, are among the partylists charged by Comelec for allegedly violating sections of Comelec Resolution No. 9615, specifically on the posting of campaign materials in public places.
“In the past two Comelec en banc hearings, we in Kabataan have succinctly shown how we complied with the commission’s notices. We have shown various documentations, including photos and letters of compliance submitted to Comelec. Despite this, the political harassment continues,” said Kabataan Partylist President Terry Ridon.
Youth groups explain that Comelec is “conditioning the electorate not to vote for Kabataan and Piston” by unabashedly telling the public that the said groups may soon be disqualified.
“Several Comelec officials continually tell the public that Kabataan and Piston are in danger of disqualification, even if the case is still ongoing and substantial evidence that show otherwise have been presented,” Ridon said.
“From the looks of it, this case has more to it than a simple campaign violation case. Comelec has successfully transformed a supposedly voters’ vigilance campaign into an insidious smear campaign against progressive partylists,” Ridon added.
The youth leader noted how Comelec has doggedly sustained the case against Kabataan and Piston despite lacking substantial evidence to support their allegations, while top violators in the Liberal Party, especially the Malacanang-backed Akbayan Partylist and several senatorial candidates scoot free and unnoticed by the commission.
“Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes and other officials are even ready to defend allies of President Aquino on the spot,” Ridon remarked, referring to an instant wherein Brillantes defended Aquino for handing out PhilHealth cards during LP campaign sorties.
In another instance, Brillantes was also quoted in media reports as saying that Comelec is supposedly “finding a hard time” to press charges against erring senatorial candidates.
“It is very apparent that Comelec is serving as the administration’s lapdog that is willing to heed Team PNoy’s every whim. In fact, Comelec is now serving as the administration’s top campaigner,” Ridon said.
“Comelec is persecuting progressive partylists thinking that by doing so, it can stifle and silence the administration’s staunchest critics. Yet we will not be silenced. We will not let this regime supress the few remaining genuine representatives of the marginalized sectors of society,” Ridon said.
“If Comelec officials think that they can easily rob millions of youth representation in Congress, then they are wrong. We will not give up without a fight,” Ridon concluded.