Mikey Arroyo's entry in the Partylist race move to make house an Arroyo land - Maza

“Mikey Arroyo’s entry in the partylist race as first nominee of his own partylist is an absolute travesty and a bare-faced bastardization of the partylist system. The Arroyos are really hell-bent in making the House of Representatives an Arroyo-land”.

Thus said Nacionalista-Makabayan senatorial candidate Liza Maza today in response to reports from COMELEC and based on the certificate of nomination filed by Ang Galing Pinoy Party showing Mikey Arroyo as its leading nominee.

“There is no way that Mikey Arroyo can represent the marginalized and underrepresented sector. This is an outright violation of Section 5 of Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party-list System Act that requires aspiring nominees to be Filipino citizens belonging to marginalized and underrepresented sectors, organizations and parties,” Maza said.

Maza cited the Supreme Court decision in 2001 on Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party vs. Ang Bagong Bayani-OFW Labor Party Go! Go! Philippines, which states that “It is not enough for the candidate to claim representation of the marginalized and underrepresented, because representation is easy to claim and feign. The Party-list organization or party must factually and truly represent the marginalized and underrepresented constituencies mentioned in Section 5.”

It further stressed that “the intent of the Constitution is clear: to give genuine power to the people, not only by giving more law to those who have less in life, but more so by enabling them to become veritable lawmakers themselves. While the business moguls and the mega-rich are, numerically speaking, a tiny minority, they are neither marginalized nor underrepresented, for the stark reality is that their economic clout engenders political power more awesome than their
numerical limitation.”

The three term representative of Gabriela vowed to frustrate the Arroyo’s plot in destroying the real essence of the partylist law and making a mockery of the entire election system.

Maza also scored the Arroyo’s scheme in turning the House of Representatives into the House of the Arroyos with PGMA’s desperate move for a congressional seat in the 2nd District of Pampanga replacing his son Mikey Arroyo. Other Arroyos currently holding seats in Congress include PGMA’s son Rep. Diosdado Macapagal Arroyo of Camarines Sur, her brother-in-law Iggy Arroyo of Negros Occidental and her sister-in-law Ma. Lourdes “Lulu” Arroyo of Kasangga Party.

“The first family is tremendously desperate to save their faces before their cut-off time comes. They are truly making the House of Representatives their own haven knowing that President Arroyo will be facing a plethora of cases as soon as her term ends this June 2010,” Maza said. ###