Confirmed: Atong Paglaum party list disqualified

May 10, 2013 by Bukidnon News in Announcements

BUKIDNON NEWS | BUKIDNON ONLINE | BUKIDNON BLOG – It’s CONFIRMED. The Commission on Elections (COMELEC) has CANCELED the Atong Paglaum party-list group (#68 on the ballot). Atong Paglaum party-list joins 10 other party-list groups that have also been disqualified.

An October 2012 resolution from COMELEC says that the nominees of Atong Paglaum and the other disqualified party-list groups do not belong to the sectors which the party represents. According to COMELEC, Atong Paglaum also reportedly failed to file its Statement of Contributions and Expenditures for the previous election in 2010. Bukidnon Online has yet to receive the most recent COMELEC resolution.

In their application for party-list accreditation, Atong Paglaum listed Rodolfo Pancrudo (first nominee), Pablo Lorenzo III, Alan Igot, Erlyn Diaz-Ortigoza and Melchor Maramara as nominees. Victor G. Noval was later added.

Bukidnon blog BukidnonOnline.com has also EXCLUSIVELY received information from COMELEC spokesperson James Jimenez that the votes cast on May 13, 2013 for Atong Paglaum “will still be counted but will be considered stray.”

Bukidnon gubernatorial candidate Jose Ma. Zubiri, Jr. in a press briefing Thursday reportedly said that if Atong Paglaum party-list garners two percent on election day (a party-list group needs to receive a minimum of two percent of the total valid votes cast for it to “qualify”/win), they will still get a congressional seat. According to Bukidnon media practitioner Ann Tenorio, who was present at the press briefing, Zubiri accordingly claimed that since the election will already be on Monday, they do not have enough time to send a reply to COMELEC.

“We (COMELEC) actually do not need their reply for the decision to be operative,” Jimenez stressed.

Valencia City candidate for councilor and Bukidnon Paglaum Party (Zubiri’s local party) legal counsel Atty. Oliver Owen “Babba” Garcia told Bukidnon Online, though, that their camp is ready to file a motion for reconsideration.

COMELEC has canceled the following party-list groups: