Votes for 32 unaccredited party-lists won’t be counted

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Tuesday that votes for 32 party-list groups in the May elections will not be counted for due to the party-lists' failure to secure accreditation with 19 days before election day, Inquirer.net reported.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez said the party-list groups appear on the ballot, but they are not accredited because they failed to prove their constituencies, membership strengths, affiliation with a marginalized sector and their track record in previous elections.

He said in a GMANews.tv report that one or two of the 32 do not even supposedly represent a marginalized sector.

"Those whose names are on the list but are not accredited, your votes will be stray," he said.

GMANews.tv lists the unaccredited party-list groups as follows:

1. 1- NET (denied December 2009)
2. AASCA (denied January 2010)
3. ABBA-AMA (motion for reconsideration denied March 2010)
4. ABO (motion for reconsideration denied March 2010)
5. ACMA (motion for reconsideration denied January 2010)
6. ACTS (motion for reconsideration denied April 2010)
7. AK (motion for reconsideration denied March 2010)
8. AKAP (motion for reconsideration denied January 2010)
9. AKAP TAO (dismissed February 2010)
10. AKI (dismissed February 2010)
11. ALNA (motion for reconsideration denied January 2010)
12. ALUM (motion for reconsideration denied)
13. ANG MINERO (motion for reconsideration denied)
14. ANG PADER (motion for reconsideration dismissed April 2010)
15. ANG SAMAKA (motion for reconsideration denied January 2010)
16. ANG TRABAHANTE (motion for reconsideration denied March 2010)
17. ANG TSINOY (motion for reconsideration denied)
18. APELA (motion for reconsideration denied January 2010)
19. AS (motion for reconsideration denied April 2010)
20. AVPAP (motion for reconsideration denied January 2010)
21. AWAT (motion for reconsideration denied)
22. BIDA (BINIGKIS) (motion for reconsideration denied January 2010)
23. DAMAYAN (motion for reconsideration denied February 2010)
24. EMMANUEL (motion for reconsideration pending)
25. FFW (dismissed February 2010)
26. NCCP (motion for reconsideration denied February 2010)
27. PFP (motion for reconsideration denied February 2010)
28. SAGIP (motion for reconsideration pending)
29. UCAP (motion for reconsideration denied January 2010)
30. UFS (motion for reconsideration denied February 2010)
31. UNLAD PILIPINAS (motion for reconsideration denied January 2010)
32. AKSI (dismissed January 2010)

Poll watchdog Kontra Daya earlier sought for the disqualification of nominees of BIDA (Batang Iwas Droga) Partylist, which is now included in the 32 unaccredited party-list groups. The group alleged that BIDA is backed by the Arroyo government.

Jimenez, meanwhile, explained in the Inquirer.net report that the Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) machine will record the votes for the 32 party-lists, but it would not be included in the official tally by the Comelec.

Comelec chairman Jose Melo said in a report that the 32 groups were either not accredited outright or have pending motions for reconsiderations with the poll body or with the Supreme Court (SC).

"They're on the ballot but they're not accredited as of this time... baka bigyan ng SC ng pagkakataon (but the SC might give them another chance) so we still retained them on the list," Melo told reporters in an interview.

Jimenez said that if it comes out later on that the party-lists are accredited, the Comelec will compute the votes for them. “But at present, the minute you count it, it will not be part of the official tally,” he said.

According to Section 11 of RA 7941, party-list organizations shall be ranked from highest to lowest based on the number of votes they garnered during the elections. It said that those who received at least two percent of the total votes cast for the party-list system shall be entitled to one congressional seat each, with a maximum of three seats.

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