Bayan Muna asks SC to unseat Mikey Arroyo as party-list rep

Two lawmakers on Wednesday moved for the disqualification of Mikey Arroyo as representative of Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP), a party-list group that supposedly represents tricycle drivers and security guards in Congress. In their petition submitted with the Supreme Court, Bayan Muna party-list Reps. Teodoro Casiño and Neri Colmenares asked the tribunal to reverse the July 19 ruling of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) allowing Arroyo’s return to the House of Representatives. “Ang Comelec ay inabuso ang kapangyarihan sa pagpayag kay Mikey Arroyo na tumakbo bilang party-list representative (The Comelec abused its power in allowing Mikey Arroyo to run as party-list representative)," Casiño told reporters before the filing of the petition. Arroyo was Pampanga’s 2nd district representative in the 14th Congress, a position now held by his mother, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Casiño said the Comelec’s decision favoring Arroyo would set a bad precedent as it would likely result to wealthy businessmen and landowners skirting the party-list system law to become representatives of marginalized sectors in Congress. The Bayan Muna petition said Arroyo is not a bona fide member of any party-list organization and therefore must be unseated. “[Mikey] Arroyo, who has not been a bona fide member of any party list organization, should be disqualified as required by the Party-list Law … and for failing the ninety (90) day bona fide membership prerequisite of the [Republic Act No.] 7941, if we are to shield the party list system from the phenomenon of ‘party list seats for sale,’" a portion of the petition read. Casiño and Colmenares also asked the SC to order the four Comelec commissioners who voted favorably for Arroyo — Nicodemo Ferrer, Lucenito Tagle, Armando Velasco and Elias Yusoph — to explain why they should not be cited for contempt in connection with the issue. “This open defiance of the four commissioners to the Supreme Court and their self righteous challenge to the Court in their resolution makes them guilty of contempt," Bayan Muna said. The Comelec, in its controversial decision last week, said one does not have to belong to a marginalized sector to represent a party-list group. It said it is enough that the nominee is a member of the group. Two commissioners, Rene Sarmiento and Gregorio Larrazabal, dissented in the voting, while Comelec chairman Jose Melo abstained. The AGP won 269,009 votes in the party-list race in the May 10 elections, entitling it to one congressional seat. Two other petitions questioning Arroyo’s eligibility as AGP party-list representative were filed last week. - KBK, GMANews.TV