A SENIOR citizen has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to take notice of the nonperformance of Senior Citizens Party List at the House of Representatives.
With this, Cecile Lopez, 62, said the party-list should be disqualified, as it has “failed their duty.”
“Since the Comelec voids the registration of party-lists that failed to win in two consecutive elections, there is no difference between them and winning party lists that have failed to take their seats in Congress and, therefore, should be disqualified and have their seats taken over by other, more deserving representatives,” she said in a letter to Comelec Chairman Juan Andres D. Bautista on Tuesday.
Lopez said the group seems to protect their personal interests over those of the sector they represent.
“Almost 1 million Filipinos voted for Senior Citizens [Party-list] upon the belief that this group will advance, if not advocate, the rights and interests of senior citizens in the country. But since the last elections, Senior Citizens Party List has not been able to do that. It would appear that they have been fighting, not to advance the interests of the millions of senior citizens, but to protect their own selfish interests,” Lopez said in a three-page letter written in Tagalog.
Likewise, she questioned the rift between the members of the organization for having two separate nominees, the reason they have not been seated in Congress.
“When I asked around, I was told that there was some in-fighting among the members of the Senior Citizens…,” said Lopez, who admitted that she voted for the said organization in the last May 9 polls.
Earlier, the Comelec said it has not resolved the issue of some party-list groups that have two sets of nominees
The Coalition of Associations of Senior Citizens in the Philippines (Senior Citizens) was among the four groups.
The group is entitled to two seats after garnering 988,876 votes, according to the National Board of Canvassers Resolution 008-16.