Jobless and denied representation

ON MAY 8, 2015, I filed a petition for registration under the Party List System Act of Representation as prescribed in the Constitution, the Omnibus Election Code, Republic Act No. 7941, and Commission on Elections Resolution No. 9366, for the party-list group Ang Mga Walang Trabaho, seeking inclusion in the national elections on May 9, 2016.

Ang Mga Walang Trabaho, or AMWT, is the name of the sectoral organization formed on July 27, 2014, by a group of qualified voters bound together by interest in and concern for all jobless Filipinos of working age. The aims were to aid the government in creating jobs for all unemployed, push the economy forward from stagnation, and alleviate the sufferings of jobless persons.

Jobless Filipinos, now numbering 10 million according to surveys, are members of the labor sector whom the government has failed to provide with gainful employment. The Congresses that came and went in the last 50 years have failed to produce a solution to the increasing number of unemployed, and neither have the many party-list groups that were given a chance to work in the House of Representatives. Maybe they did not know that full employment makes for the healthy economy of every nation.

After making sure that I had complied with all the rules of the Comelec, I submitted to the clerk my petition, which was accepted after a thorough scrutiny. I paid the filing fee of P10,100, as well as P28,000, the cost of having my petition published in two leading newspapers. I spent more than P50,000, including attorney’s fees and costs for the notary public, photocopies and paper, all for the sake of our beloved country and people.

On Oct. 28, 2015, I received the Comelec First Division’s denial of the AMWT petition. I was told that the AMWT did not have a complete plan to really help jobless Filipinos. In reply, I said the Comelec First Division had not read the AMWT platform of government because everything is clearly defined there.

My plan as AMWT chair, should I make it to Congress, is to work for the passage of a law to add a new department to the government’s organization chart (plantilla) that will be funded yearly. These funds will be used solely to establish factories that will require the services of jobless Filipinos, be they skilled or unskilled. We will build car manufacturing plants, open all patent offices, and mass-produce the good inventions that will benefit Filipino families. The proposed department will be named Department of Job Creation and Product Research. This will expand to all provinces to invigorate the cottage industries at which Filipino women are good. Our women need not go abroad to work and risk being abused.

On Dec. 2, 2015, I received an answer from Commissioner Christian Robert S. Lim advising me to submit a motion for reconsideration under Comelec Resolution No. 7, Sections 2 and 3, which states that the motion will be sent to the en banc and is time-sensitive. Section 1, however, states: “SUSPENSION OF COMELEC RULES OF PROCEDURE—In the interest of justice and in order to attain speedy disposition of cases, the application of the Comelec Rules of Procedure or any portion thereof inconsistent herewith is hereby suspended.” I had hoped that under this resolution, the AMWT petition would be granted.

I filed my motion for reconsideration a day after I received the advice.

But I was wrong. Last Jan. 28, I received the Comelec en banc’s decision ultimately denying the AMWT petition. The Comelec as a whole accused me of many violations that were not true. It said my motion for reconsideration was submitted late. It said the AMWT has no list of officers and members. It said I filed my petition late although it qualified under RA 7941.

The Comelec en banc’s decision contradicted the certification of the clerk of the Comelec included in the First Division’s denial, that the AMWT has all the qualifications and none of the disqualification in its petition, and that its aim is to help uplift the economy and alleviate the sufferings of jobless Filipinos. The decision of the Comelec as a whole ultimately disregarded the importance and merit of the AMWT platform of government that is badly needed by our country.

The candidates in the May elections are promising jobs for the jobless, but they have not explained how they would create jobs. They can learn from the AMWT platform of government.

The question that sticks in my mind is why the AMWT petition was denied by the Comelec when it has all the plans for the Philippines to be a progressive country. Is it because of the rumor that a party-list group seeking accreditation has to come across with a certain amount? God forbid!
The members of the Comelec en banc that threw out the AMWT petition are: Chair Andres D. Bautista, Christian Robert S. Lim, Luie Tito F. Guia, Ma. Rowena Amelia V. Guanzon, Al A. Parreño, Arthur D. Lim and Sheriff M. Abas.

Felizardo M. Pagsanhan is 84 and retired. The last job he held was as senior purchasing officer.