Kabataan Partylist

The country’s leading youth partylist group today denounced the President’s Office for External Affairs for planning to subvert the partylist elections by directly organizing and financing at least five fake partylists.

“Young Filipinos have wanted a partylist representative as early as 2004 but the Hello Garci operations favoring Mrs. Arroyo and pro-Arroyo partylist groups cheated us of victory. Now the OEA wants nine to 12 seats by hook or by crook — the administration wants to have a repeat of Hello Garci to cheat genuine partylists and favor pro-Arroyo fakes,” said Kabataan Partylist nominee Enrico Almonguerra.

In a memorandum dated Oct. 2006, the OEA’s Asst. Sec. Marcelo T. Fariñas, head of the agency’s Special Concerns Group, proposed to President Arroyo full administration support for “partylist groups ascertained to be pro-administration and ensure the winning of nine to 12 seats in the House.” The amount of P5.5-million was requested to cover the period of Oct.-Dec. 2006 for five to eight pro-Arroyo partylists.

The OEA memorandum identified the pro-Arroyo partylists as follows: Babae Ka formed by OEA Director Nerissa Garcia, Lypad Partylist organized by Director Melvin Mitra, and Kalahi initiated by Director Poe Gratela. Others named in the document were the Alliance of Neo-Conservatives, Abono, Kasangga and Aging Pinoy.

“We call on all young voters to be vigilant, shun the fakes and support Kabataan Partylist,” said Almonguerra. “These fakes will only represent GMA, not the youth who want good government and legislation for education, employment and empowerment.”

“Lypad actually stands for Liars to the Youth, Paid Arroyo Defenders. We are sure the young voters will reject them,” said Almonguerra who said that the first nominee of Lypad went to a son of Team Unity senatorial candidate Jamalul Kiram III.

Kabataan first ran for partylist representation in 2004 but fell short by 30,000 votes to obtain the two percent requirement for one seat. The Hello Garci telephone conversations included the padding of votes for pro-Arroyo partylists.

“While genuine partylists labor everyday to mount a credible nationwide campaign to get elected fair and square, President Arroyo’s favored partylists are having a fun time wasting away public funds,” said Almonguerra.

Almonguerra said President Arroyo may be impeached if her administration is proven to have meddled in the partylist system.

“Mrs. Arroyo has a reverse Midas touch. She has sabotaged many institutions like the presidency, the military and police, and the Lower House. Now, she wants to touch the partylist system and turn it into shit,” said the youth leader. “We won’t allow that to happen.”

This entry was posted on Friday, April 20th, 2007 at 4:27 pm and is filed under News and Press releases, Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.