2 party-list nominees not marginalized, Comelec rules

MANILA, Philippines—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has ruled that the two nominees of Ang Kasangga party-list group cannot sit in the House of Representatives because they are not members of the marginalized sector.

In a 10-page decision issued recently, the Comelec’s First Division granted election watchdog Kontra Daya’s petition to bar businessmen Teodoro Haresco and Eugenio Lacson from representing Ang Kasangga in Congress.

Kontra Daya said Haresco and Lacson could not claim to be members of the marginalized sector as they had numerous business and political interests.

Ang Kasangga, which won a seat in the last election, represents small- and medium-size entrepreneurs. One of its past nominees was Ma. Lourdes Arroyo, sister-in-law of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, now representative of Pampanga.

In its ruling, the First Division said it was “unconvinced” that Haresco and Lacson, who own significant business interests, are members of the underrepresented sectors.

Haresco has a “long list” of business interests while Lacson, a three-term mayor of San Carlos, Negros Occidental, is not part of the underrepresented sector being a former politician.

“The respondents do not belong to the underrepresented sector that Ang Kasangga claims to represent. It is unfathomable for this commission that a big businessman like Haresco and a politician like Lacson will truly understand the plight of micro-entrepreneurs,” the ruling said.