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House braces for typhoons Alvin and Dan

BLURBAL THRUSTS

Louie Logarta

10/18/2009

Metro Manila mayors were surprisingly tongue-tied upon being informed that President Arroyo was on the verge of signing an executive order for the immediate relocation of thousands of squatters living along riverbanks and creeksides whose lives are in danger whenever typhoons (such as “Ondoy,” remember him?) come a-visiting, bringing with them devastating flashfloods.

During last week’s Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) meeting in Malacañang, not one pip was heard from local government leaders when they were told they were being ordered to prevent by all means such typhoon-displaced persons from returning to their shanties and huts which were found to be clogging waterways and drainage channels, thereby resulting in the pitifully slow ebb of floodwaters in some low-lying urban areas and have them moved to relocation sites being readied by the national government.

We were told that no one dared interpose any objection to the planned executive order which was being drafted by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Rod Valencia, a housing development expert, fearful he might be accused of being oblivious to the plight of thousands who are now living in squalor in evacuation centers after being forced to abandon their houses by the rampaging floodwaters spawned by Ondoy.

The majority of the estimated 270 persons who were killed by the fierce storm were squatters living along creeks, esteros and riverbanks.

Normally, there would have been a hue and cry from the local executives if such a drastic approach to the squatter problem were broached by the national leadership (because these illegal settlers are an extremely rich source of votes during elections which is why politicians tolerate their presence even if it is illegal; just look at the huge squatter colony located in that large piece of government land adjacent to Quezon City Hall and the one situated right beside the headquarters of the Quezon City Police District, both of which are in the 4th district, the political bailiwick of Mayor Sonny Belmonte).

But these are abnormal times with abnormal problems that require abnormal solutions.

Our stoolie in the Commission on Elections last week e-mailed the names of the 25 party-list organizations that were purged for being non-performers, or failing to get the adequate number of votes in the 2007 elections, as required by RA 7941 (the Party List Act) to justify continued cognizance by the poll body.

The bottom line is that their respective accreditations are deemed canceled until further notice and they cannot participate in the 2010 elections, which all of them are counting on for obvious reasons.

Consigned to the history books were ABA, Abanse Pinay, Aging Pinoy, Ahonbayan, AK, Akapin, Ako, Aksa, Anak Mahirap, Asap, A Smile, Assalam, BTM, Bahandi, Cocofed, Grecon, Migrante, Nelffi, PCDO-ACTO, PGBI, PMAP, SM, Sanlakas, SPI and Suara.

But they were all given until Oct. 26 to formally contest the Comelec order.

By way of explanation, Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the abovementioned party-list groups were culled to make way for others who might do better in the upcoming political exercise. He said the Comelec, as of deadline time, had already received over 200 applications for accreditation from various sectors for next year’s polls.

He said under the law, an accredited party-list group can be disqualified from being elected if it did not participate in the last two preceding elections or failed to obtain at least two percent of the votes cast under the party-list system in the two preceding elections for the constituency which it chose to represent.

Comelec records clearly show Anak Mahirap didn’t care to participate in the last two elections (probably due to lack of funds) at all; Abanse Pinay, Migrante, PGBI, AK and PCDO-ACTO didn’t participate in one election and failed to get the required two percent of votes in the other; AKO participated as a coalition while the rest failed to get the required 2 percent of the votes in the 2004 and 2007 elections.

For sure, those party list groups who were sacked and whose motions for reconsideration are rejected are going will fight the Comelec all the way up to the Supreme Court, which means we can expect more fireworks in the very near future.

Because we are positive all of them will claim the Comelec had erred in disenfranchising them due to their incorrect interpretation of the Party List Act.

The House of Representatives is bracing itself for the arrival of two storms that are expected to rock its foundations — typhoon Dan and typhoon Alvin.

Typhoon Dan refers to Rep. Dan Fernandez of Laguna, while typhoon Alvin is Rep. Alvin Sandoval of Malabon. Both honorable congressmen were unseated by the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) which resolved the electoral protests that had been filed against them.

The House leadership was supposed to have unseated Fernandez and Sandoval last September, but the twin moves were temporarily derailed due to the arrival of the super calamities known as Ondoy and Pepeng.

But now that Ondoy and Pepeng are just a historical footnote, the names of Fernandez and Sandoval are widely expected to be deleted from the official roster of members of the lower chamber.

Fernandez was turned out by the HRET with finality as he was proven to lack residency in his district which includes the localities of San Pedro, Biñan and Sta. Rosa. He must secure a temporary restraining order from the Supreme Court to stop the expulsion.

Sandoval, who had succeeded his brother Ricky in the lone district of Malabon should file his motion for reconsideration of the decision shutting him out in favor of Josephine Lacson of the Nationalist People’s Coalition.

Lacson had filed an electoral protest because she claimed to have beaten Sandoval by 542 votes, but lost in the counting due to massive cheating. The HRET unanimously declared her the victor over Sandoval, by a narrow 70,655 to 70,113 tally.