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.