E·N·Q·U·I·R·Y
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
DEMAREE J.B. RAVAL
The real Cibac prevails
Tuesday, 09 25, 2007
There is hope for the Commission on Elections (Comelec), at least insofar as it refused to lend credence to the wild claims of a pretender to the second seat allocated to Citizens’ Battle Against Corruption (Cibac) for the party-list representation in the House of Representatives. The honorable commissioners in the Comelec can be decent when they want to, as when they voted unanimously to consider lawyer Chinchona Cruz-Gonzales as the rightful second nominee of Cibac for the 14th Congress.
Gonzales deserves the second seat for Cibac, because she is not a certain Luis Lokin is.
Let’s get it from the findings of facts in the resolution dated Sept. 14, 2007 of the Comelec, as to why Gonzales, not Lokin, should represent Cibac.
“...Cibac decided to name the following as its nominees as representatives to Congress: Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva, Ma. Blanca Kim Bernardo-Lokin, Cinchona C. Gonzales, Virginia S. Jose and Emil Galang, in that order. These five (5) nominees were proclaimed as the official nominees in a proclamation rally/meeting held at Liwasang Bonifacio.
“...On March 26, 2007, the party tried to complete all the papers for the nomination: Certificate of Nomination and Acceptance of Nomination, in time for the March 29, 2007 deadline for the submission of nominees. Mrs. Ma. Blanca Kim Lokin requested that the papers be brought to her husband’s office in Ortigas on March 28, 2007, so that it would be completed there. The documents were thereafter brought to Unit 1206 Robinsons Equitable Tower, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Pasig City, the Law Office of Atty. Luis K. Lokin, Jr.. But when the documents were returned the name appearing thereon was already that of Atty. Lokin and not that of the wife.
“Cibac president Joel Villanueva confronted Atty. Luis Lokin about the change, and was told by the latter that it was only for the purpose of beating the deadline and would be later withdrawn. Mrs. Ma. Blanca Bernardo-Lokin was allegedly no longer interested in being nominated as she was instead running as a district representative. Since Atty. Lokin has been an active participant in the management of the party, the party president took his word for what it was and proceeded to submit the Certificate of Nomination with the appropriate attachments to this Commission.”
Cibac never got the promised withdrawal from Lokin. Forthwith, the party filed with the Comelec several days before election day on May 14, 2007 a Certificate of Withdrawal of Nomination, Substitution and Amendment of List of Nominees, substituting Gonzales for Lokin as second nominee. This latter certificate was upheld by the Comelec as valid and seasonably filed, as against the directors’ certificates filed by Lokin purporting to confirm his being the second nominee but which the Comelec declared as ultra vires acts of a board that was not validly constituted or convened.
Very damning to Lokin’s cause is this finding by the Comelec: “... the initial second nominee was Lokin’s wife and not him. It was only through surreptitious substitution that he was able to change the nominee making himself appear now to be the second nominee.”
What is despicable about the moves of Lokin to have himself declared by the Comelec as the second nominee is his attempt to denigrate the role and position of Villanueva as president of Cibac. Villanueva is the heart and soul of Cibac, yet Lokin had the temerity to assert that Villanueva has no authority to file the Certificate of Withdrawal of Nomination, Substitution and Amendment of List of Nominees. To this, the Comelec declared thus: “... the party really intended to give the discretion and choice of making the nominations to its party president. The ratification by the members themselves of the withdrawal of the nomination of Atty. Lokin through various petitions lodged with this commission is indicative of that intent... to our mind, the filing by the party president of the manifestation to participate in the May 14, 2007 elections was a valid act, the filing of the original certificate of nomination by the same party president should also be considered a valid act. Per force, the subsequent filing of the withdrawal and substitution of nomination should also be considered a valid act.”
Lokin’s desperation is evident in his argument that Villanueva, Gonzales and the rest who questioned his nomination are members of the Jesus is Lord (JIL) Movement. [A religious organization is disqualified from accreditation under the party-list law]. Again, the Comelec rebuffed Lokin on this, stating: “...these are mere allegations without evidentiary support. He could have presented his own list of members but he did not do so; hence, the reliability of the listing furnished by Villanueva has not been compromised. Even if we assume that indeed these persons were members of the JIL Movement, it does not prevent them from being members of the party-list, so long as their representation therein is not transformed into a religious organization.”
The Comelec has the responsibility to ensure that only those who are properly elected members of a party-list organization or political party chosen by its members would be nominated and thereafter allowed to sit in the hallowed halls of Congress. In the case involving Cibac, by finally proclaiming Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales as the rightful second nominee, the Comelec has discharged that duty responsibly and very well.
Now, Gonzales, together with Villanueva who sits as the first nominee, can buckle down to work and pursue the anti-corruption and good government advocacies of Cibac, advocacies which the pretender to Gonzales’ seat was never really in a position to pursue in the first place.
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