You Are Here:Home → 2021 → May → 7 → Electoral protest vs. progressive youth partylist dismissed
Electoral protest vs. progressive youth partylist dismissed
Kabataan Party Rep. Sarah Elago (Photo by Gino Estella/Bulatlat)
SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said that it is “best for this tribunal to decline this importuning for a fishing expedition and dismiss the present Protest.”
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
MANILA – The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal dismissed the election protest lodged against progressive Kabataan Partylist in a decision dated March 18, 2021.
In a six-page decision furnished to Bulatlat, Supreme Court Associate Justice Rosmari Carandang, the ponente and member of the electoral tribunal, said that You Against Corruption and Poverty (YACAP) Party-List has no legal standing to file the election protest against the youth group, citing the rule limiting the parties who can file an election protest.
Lawmakers say universities should be military-free zones
Philippines lawmakers have said that the protection of the University of the Philippines from military and police operations on campus should be enshrined in law and that this protection should be extended to all the country’s public universities and colleges.
A raft of bills to that effect has been tabled by opposition politicians in the country’s parliament in recent weeks.
Philippines congresswoman Sarah Elago this week tabled a resolution calling on the House of Representatives to ensure that schools and universities in the country are ‘zones of peace’ that are “free from police and military presence, intervention, harassment and intimidation”.
Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdinand Gaite
(Bayan Muna Rep. Ferdie Gaite Facebook / FILE PHOTO / MANILA BULLETIN)
Gaite said Velasco’s “good judgement” will protect members of Congress against government agencies’ red-tagging of Makabayan congressmen, who include nominees from Bayan Muna, Gabriela, Kabataan, and ACT Teachers.
“Clearly there is pressure on the House to join the communist witch hunt of the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Local Community Armed Conflict), but we believe Speaker Velasco will remain judicious and will not allow the House to be used as a venue for peddling baseless accusations against its members,” he explained.
The NTF-ELCAC has claimed that the Makabayan, which is composed of six solons, is affiliated with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army (CPP-NPA). The Philippine government has branded the CPP-NPA as terrorists.