Godofredo Arquiza, the leader of one of the factions within the Coalition of Association of Senior Citizens Inc. (Senior Citizens), said in a press conference Monday that his group has filed an urgent motion before the Supreme Court to cite Comelec chairman Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. and commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph due to their refusal to proclaim the group as a winner in the party-list elections despite a Supreme Court ruling ordering the Comelec to do so.
Arquiza said his group had no choice but to run to the Supreme Court to settle the issue since the Comelec has not heeded the Court’s order to proclaim Senior Citizens as a partylist.
“Sa Supreme Court na kami nag-file ngayon ng case dahil itong [ginagawa ng Comelec] ay ‘di na tama… July 24 pa nagsabi ang SC na dapat kaming i-proclaim pero hanggang ngayon hindi pa rin [ginagawa ng Comelec]. Yung Comelec, dinefer pa nila ang pagpo-proclaim sa amin at ni-refer pa kami sa RTC [Regional Trial Court] para raw ma-settle na yung issue,” he said.
The Comelec said in a resolution issued last week that it cannot proclaim Senior Citizens since its two nominees, Arquiza and Francisco Datol Jr., “abused their authority to usurp leadership over Senior Citizens from one another.”
Arquiza and Datol lead rival factions within the party-list group.
The poll body cited Arquiza’s refusal to hold elections since he took over the party-list in 2007 and that no elections have been held since the group was founded in 2003.
Meanwhile, Comelec said Datol’s group illegally tried to seize the leadership of the party by misleading members and submitting falsified documents, including a padded members’ list.
In July, the Supreme Court reversed Comelec’s decision to disqualify the party-list from the May 2013 elections, where Senior Citizens got 677,642 votes.
Arquiza, however, claimed that the internal issue within the group that the Comelec has cited as one of its bases for deferring the party-list’s proclamation has long been resolved in the regional trial court.
“Iyong RTC problem namin ay matagal nang na-resolve. Matagal na ito. [Nagsimula] ‘yon dahil na-amend ang aming articles of incorporation ay na-amend nang di namin alam without our consent, knowledge and approval. Iyon ang pinaglaban namin,” he said.
Arquiza said the group singled out the three commissioners to be cited in contempt since they appeared to be “too persistent (masigasig)” in settling the leadership dispute by offering to proclaim both Arquiza and Datol.
“Silang tatlo ang masigasig eh. Gusto nilang mag-aagree ako na kami ni Datul ang ipo-proclaim. Pero lahat ng nominees ayaw pumayag,” he said.
Arquiza said the Comelec officials might be trying to have Datul proclaimed as a party-list representative, alleging Datul is close to Brillantes.
“Baka may intindihan sila [Datul at commissioners]. Ito kasing Francisco Datol ay Comelec operator. ‘Yon ang nakalagay sa calling card niya,” he said.
Arquiza, however, refused to elaborate on his statement.
In an ambush interview, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said he is hoping for the immediate resolution of the dispute within the Senior Citizens’ group so that its representatives can already do their job of representing the elderly.
“I hope that they do resolve that issue very quickly because if there is a sector requires to be represented here in the chamber, it would be the senior citizens.” — BM, GMA News
