Comelec denies bias vs Liberal Party

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday said their decision to approve the Nacionalista Party-Nationalist People’s Coalition (NP-NPC) coalition was not made to put the Liberal Party (LP) at a disadvantage in its bid to become the dominant minority party in May. "The Comelec is not biased and how can a decision involving a different political party be automatically considered as a bias against someone else," Comelec spokesman James Jimenez told reporters at a press briefing. Jimenez issued the statement after LP said the Comelec en banc was biased when it approved the NP-NPC coalition in a 5-2 decision. Being approved as a coalition has increased the chances of NP-NPC to be accredited as the dominant minority party, which will be entitled to the sixth copy of the election returns and a separate server where election results will automatically be fed on election day. LP had earlier opposed the NP-NPC application, saying that the coalition was formed only last January 28, or six months after the deadline for registration of political parties lapsed. NP, however, said that their application is valid because the coalition was entered into by two registered political parties. The poll body, in a resolution promulgated Monday, said that there is no resolution setting a deadline for the registration of coalitions. It added that duly registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations are free to enter into coalitions for election pruposes. "Registration of a coalition is simply recognition by the Commission of a political reality... the approval of its registration by the Commissionn is a mere recognition of an operative fact," it said. LP has also said that the coalition was only formed to meet the poll body’s requirement that the dominant minority party should field the most number of candidates in the national and local elections. Comelec records show that LP will be fielding 5,934 candidates in the May polls while NP will be fielding 5,565 and NPC 2,373. LP will be fielding its standard bearer Senator Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III in the May polls while NP-NPC will be fielding Senator Manuel Villar. - Kimberly Jane Tan/KBK, GMANews.TV