(Updated) SC nullifies NP-NPC coalition

The Supreme Court has nullified the coalition of the Nacionalista Party and the Nationalist People's Coalition (NP-NPC) due to the failure of the two parties to submit the necessary requirements. In a 29-page decision penned by Associate Justice Arturo Brion, the court overturned a Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling recognizing the NP-NPC merger as a bona fide coalition. The coalition, along with the Liberal Party (LP) and the Puwersa ng Masang Pilipino, are all vying for the Comelec’s nod to become the dominant minority party that will be entitled to the sixth copy of the election returns (ERs) and a server showing the election results as they are transmitted on the May 10 automated elections. Last month, the LP asked the Supreme Court to reverse the Comelec decision recognizing the NP-NPC coalition. The LP also asked the SC to bar the Comelec from declaring its decision on which party should be considered dominant or minority in the May 10 elections.

Bogus In a 53-page petition for certiorari and prohibition with urgent application for temporary restraining order quo ante and/or writ of preliminary injunction, the LP insisted that the NP-NPC alliance was bogus and was created only to ease the LP out of its dominant minority party status. "A coalition of political parties must not be just a piece of paper that can be registered whimsically, most especially when such purported coalition is not only dubious in its existence but is also severely tainted with bad faith and is intended to have undue advantage against those who are faithfully complying with the law," the petition read. Last April 7, Comelec Commissioner Lucenito Tagle said they have already signed the resolution recognizing the NP-NPC coalition and that it would soon be promulgated. The LP, which is fielding Sen. Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III as its standard-bearer, has consistently opposed the NP-NPC application, saying it was formed only last January 28, or six months after the deadline for registration of political parties lapsed. It also said the coalition was only formed to meet the Comelec’s requirement that the dominant minority party should field the most number of candidates in the national and local elections. NP defense The NP, in defense, said its application is valid because the coalition was entered into by two registered political parties. The party has Sen. Manny Villar Jr. as its presidential candidate. Gilbert Remulla, NP spokesperson and senatorial candidate, downplayed the SC decision. “The coalition between the NP and NPC remains strong. The decision of the SC was based on a technicality and does not reflect the solid working relationship between the two parties," he said in a text message to GMANews.TV. The former Cavite representative said the PCOS machines would still be able to provide the election returns to all parties regardless of dominant majority or minority status. In a press statement, the NP said while they respect the SC decision, they stand firm on their previous pronouncement that there is nothing unusual, much less illegal, with the NP-NPC coalition. "Should this alliance not be recognized on paper, the results of the elections on the national and local levels shall prove us correct: NP and NPC, members, candidates, and supporters belong to one coalition and are united in pursuit of the same goal – electoral victory," it said. "We remain the country's de facto most dominant opposition party," it added. — with Amita Legaspi/KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV