Comelec disqualifies AANGAT Tayo

MANILA, Philippines - After a unanimous vote, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced Friday the exclusion of incumbent party-list group AANGAT Tayo from the 2013 mid-term elections.

AANGAT Tayo is represented by Daryl Grace Abayon, wife of former congressman Harlin Castillio Abayon.  Harlin Abayon filed his certificate of candidacy for district representative against re-electionist Raul Daza in Northern Samar.

Rep. Abayon is one of the multimillionaires in the House of Representatives, with a declared net worth of P23,443,903.76 for 2011.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said Abayon is not a member of a marginalized group.

He said AANGAT Tayo is a multi-sectoral group but he explained this was not the only reason against AANGAT Tayo. He said a party-list group can be multisectoral so long as it represents marginalized groups that are not in conflict with each other.

AANGAT Tayo claims to represent the elderly and the youth and the urban poor.

“How can you represent elderly and youth at the same time?” asked the Comelec chief.

Brillantes said there will be more incumbent groups whose party-list accreditations will be cancelled.

However, these will be announced once the paper work is completed, based on his agreement with House Speaker Sonny Belmonte.

Brillantes said Belmonte told him party-list groups get bothered with news of more cancellations.

Ready for impeachment

The poll chief, meanwhile, said he is ready to face impeachment anytime over the disqualification of party- list groups as he maintained that legislators cannot probe the poll body for its disqualification of party-list groups.

Brillantes said legislators have no business investigating the exercise of quasi-judicial functions.

He said if he is summoned to a congressional investigation, he will appear but refuse to answer questions. He said he is also ready to be detained.

“I can understand politicians are taking sides. People we’re eliminating are actually multimillionaires. Please do not involve us. We’re trying to be very fair. Bakit di niyo rin imbestigahan decision ng courts? We can make mistakes but that can be corrected by the SC. Nobody else should correct our mistakes,” he said.