Solon: SC ruling on Mikey Arroyo case to ‘subvert’ party-list system

A militant lawmaker on Monday criticized the Supreme Court’s final ruling allowing Mikey Arroyo, son of former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to represent tricycle drivers and security guards in Congress. Rep. Teodoro Casiño of Bayan Muna said the high court’s decision junking his petition to disqualify Mr. Arroyo as nominee of Ang Galing Pinoy will allow certain groups to “subvert" the country’s party-list system. “The high court dismissed the petition on mere technicalities and deliberately avoided taking the bull by its horns. The decision ensures the further marginalization of the marginalized in the party-list system," he said in a statement. The SC affirmed last week an earlier decision dismissing three petitions, one of which was filed by Casiño, seeking to disqualify Mr. Arroyo as AGP’s nominee. The group claims to represent tricycle drivers and security guards in the country. The SC, in its decision, said the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) is the proper body to decide on the matter. Casiño said the SC magistrates should have “corrected the anomaly" instead of passing the responsibility to another forum. “The court should not have passed the buck to the HRET and used the case as an opportunity to correct the anomaly of multimillionaires and powerful politicians like Arroyo undermining the party-list system," he said. The militant lawmaker added that he will just push for a bill amending the Party-list Act (Republic Act 7941) to avoid “Mikey Arroyo copycats" from “bastardizing" the party-list system. The Party-list System Act defines the party-list system as “a mechanism of proportional representation" in the election of representatives to House of Representatives from those “belonging to the marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations, and parties." - Andreo Calonzo/KBK, GMA News