THE Senior Citizens in the Philippines party list (Senior Citizens) is seeking the intervention of the Commission on Elections to finally end the dispute over its official nominees.
Senior Citizens party-list President Godofredo Villar-Arquiza asked Comelec to officially recognize their “legal” list of nominees, which they have endorsed.
“Comelec should recognize the official act of our party-list’s official and legal board of trustees and proceed to accredit the official legitimate nominees named in the board resolution,” Arquiza said in a statement.
Arquiza said he met with Comelec chairman Sheriff Abas Comelec and commissioners Socorro Inting, Marlon Casquejo and Antonio Kho Jr. to appeal to them for help in their cause.
He described the separate list of nominees as “disgruntled individuals,” who he said are claiming to be the officers and nominees of Senior Citizen.
Arquiza, as well as Francisco Datol and Milagros Magsaysay, are all claiming to be the president of Senior Citizens and have each been endorsing different sets of nominees for the party-list.
Arquiza, however, maintained they are still the legitimate faction of Senior Citizens since he was among those who registered the group at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2013.
To bolster his claim, he also said he has been consistently the first nominee of the party-list during the 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016 elections.
He said the members of the other groups were “expelled on November 30, 2010 from the party-list by both the Senior Citizens’ board of trustees and general membership for acts inimical to the best interests of the party-list.”
Arquiza also noted that Comelec declared as void on Jan. 13, 2014, the other groups’ claim of being the official leadership of Senior Citizens.
In 2017, the Comelec en banc sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, however, decided in favor of the so-called other faction by declaring their group’s first and second nominees as the representatives of the party-list.
Arquiza said this should not be the case, citing the judicial principle of “res judicata.”
“Under the judicial principle of ‘res judicata’ where a case in which there has been a final judgment is no longer subject to appeal, the Comelec must uphold its earlier ruling,” Arquiza said.
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