An Waray – a bogus partylist says BAYAN

By BAYAN Eastern Visayas
October 28, 2012

TACLOBAN CITY  –  Regional patriotic umbrella alliance, said today that the local An Waray Partylist is one of those dubbed bogus party-list groups earlier disqualified by the Commission on Elections (COMELEC).

The Eastern Visayas formation of BAYAN is represented by its Secretary-General, Mr. Rogelio “Jun” Berino.

As the prominent AKO BICOL Party-list was disqualified by the COMELEC for participation in the 2013 National Midterm Elections, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) called An Waray Partylist bogus as it is in many ways similar in character to those party-list groups already disqualified by the said electoral body.

“An Waray’s representatives do not belong to the marginalized and underrepresented sector that the partylist group seeks to represent. Florencio Noel is the husband of a District Representative, Malabon Congresswoman Jane Lacson-Noel that makes him financially capable to compete in the regular congressional district elections. He is also the 28th richest party-list representative among the 56 partylist congressmen as of 2011 as he totaled a net worth of P13,105,000.00,” Mr. Berino said in the statement.

Berino also added that, “Neil Benedict Montejo, An Waray’s second representative, is even richer than Noel with his net worth amounting to P19,690,000.00 making him the 19th in ranking among millionaire partylist congressmen. The Montejo family also owns Montejo Newspaper and Hotel Alejandro, a prominent and luxurious hotel in Tacloban City while as of press time, they have another hotel constructed in the same city.”

On the other hand, concerning the aspect of An Waray’s national scope, Berino said that, “The uneven distribution of An Waray’s projects through the Project Development Assistance Fund or PDAF of its congressmen, especially that of Cong. Noel’s are highly concentrated in the small thriving city of Tacloban which is contrary to the mandate of a partylist to have a national scope and character, similar to that of a senator.

The recent P2 million-cost rehabilitation of the Tacloban Legislative Building, the mushrooming of Tanod outposts bearing initials of Cong. Noel, the pouring of funds for medical and financial assistance to the Region 8 alone, are only some of the perfect examples of how An Waray in essence represents a sole region in the Congress, while the Eastern Visayas region is already well-represented as it is politically subdivided into 6 provinces, 1 chartered and 1 highly urbanized city, 6 component cities, and 12 congressional districts. This is a clear violation of the intent and purpose of the party-list law and 1987 Constitution.”

“An Waray is one evidence of the abuse of the partylist system by the rich and the powerful. The tempo started by the COMELEC is a very good chance to cleanse the partylist system. I just hope that before the printing of ballots for the 2013 Elections, bogus partylists are already out of the list, for them not to take away the seats supposedly for the poor and the marginalized,” Berino concluded.