THE Alliance of Civil Servants (ACS) on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to postpone the election for party-list representatives owing to the “unlawful” denial of its petition for registration under the party-list system.

In a 35-page petition, the ACS, a group claiming to represent the 1.5 million government employees, said the Commission on Elections’ decision disqualifying the group as well as several other organizations from participating in the partylist elections has disfranchised million of voters, particularly its constituents.

In a resolution issued on March 2007, the Comelec denied the registration of ACS as on the ground that it failed to prove its existence or presence nationwide.

The group countered that presence or existence nationwide is not among the guidelines enumerated by the Supreme Court in its decision in the case of Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party v. Comelec.

The ACS admitted that under Republic Act 7941 or the party-list law,  the Comelec is allowed to ask applicants for partylist system to provide other information in order to validate whether they possess all the qualifications.

However, the group insisted that the poll body has no power to impose additional requisites for registration.

“[The] Comelec’s requirement that parties, sectoral organizations, and coalitions must have presence or existence nationwide is void for being vague. There is no law or jurisprudence, not even a Comelec resolution, which defines what ‘presence or existence nationwide’ means.”

ACS claimed that it has more than 430,000 followers, which is sufficient to win a party-list seat considering that in the 2004 elections, the group An Waray qualified for a seat although it garnered only 268,164 votes.

It further that the requirement of having national constituency is applicable only to national parties as stated in Section 3 of R.A. 7941.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said on Wednesday that the party-list system should not be used as an instrument of deceit as it dared the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to scrutinize such groups and their leaders.

CABANATUAN CITY—The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has approved the deployment of additional policemen and Army troops to Nueva Ecija (NE), to help preempt further election-related violence, the latest being the killing of three barangay officials in Talugtog town on Tuesday.

CHAIRMAN Benjamin Abalos of the Commission on Elections on Wednesday indicated that controversial Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez faces a Comelec inquiry for possibly vote-buying after he offered a P10,000 bonus each to Iloilo barangay leaders who can deliver zero votes for opposition candidates in the May 14 senatorial elections.

THE surprise endorsement by Genuine Opposition bet Sen. Panfilo Lacson of two non-GO teammates has confirmed reports of larges–scale junking in the opposition, the administration team said.

THE Alliance of Civil Servants (ACS) on Wednesday asked the Supreme Court to postpone the election for party-list representatives owing to the “unlawful” denial of its petition for registration under the party-list system.