Comelec asked to decide on plea to disqualify Mikey Arroyo

A progressive party-list group on Tuesday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to act on their call to disqualify Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP) nominee Presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Jose Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo. In a two-page letter to Comelec Law Department head Ferdinand Rafanan, Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello and chair emeritus Loretta Rosales asked the poll body to issue a formal response to their call for the disqualification of Arroyo as a party-list nominee. Last April 7, the two leaders sent a letter saying that the Pampanga representative should immediately be disqualified because he failed to submit proof that he is part of the sector which AGP seeks to represent, specifically tricycle drivers and security guards. Comelec Resolution 8807 requires party-list groups to submit documentary evidence showing that their nominees "truly belong" to marginalized sectors they seek to represent in Congress. Any nominee who does not possess all the qualifications of a nominee and who commits any act declared to be grounds for disqualification may be disqualified from continuing as a nominee, the resolution said. "It is our firm position that the Law Department and the Honorable Commission should be stringent and conscientious in applying rules that the Comelec has itself promulgated," said Bello and Rosales in their letter. Comelec Law Department Ferdinand refused to comment. On the other hand, other poll officials could not be immediately reached for comment. Earlier, militant party-list group Bayan Muna and Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza separately sought the disqualification of Arroyo from the 2010 elections, saying that he is not qualified to become the nominee of the Ang Galing Pinoy party-list. The poll body second division then held a hearing last April 13 asking Arroyo to submit within five days a memorandum explaining why he should not be disqualified as a party-list nominee. The case has been submitted for resolution. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV