MANILA, Philippines - At least 30 to 40 party-list groups accredited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the May 10 elections are government-supported, a poll watchdog group said Tuesday.

Father Joe Dizon, convenor of election watchdog group Kontra Daya, said the fielding of more party-list groups is part of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's plan to control the House of Representatives so she can remain in power.

"Six lang ang initial na meron kaming mga ebidensya pero continuous ang search sa iba pa. Out of the 187 accredited ng Comelec, mga 30 to 40 ang government-sponsored or military-sponsored or police-sponsored or mga politiko na could no longer win through their district representation," Dizon told ANC's Dateline Philippines.

The poll watchdog group initially asked the Comelec to disqualify 6 party-list groups namely Bida, Adam, Agbiag, Babae Ka, Lypad and Kalahi.

Dizon said that their evidence against Bida was taken from the website of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., while the evidence against the 5 others is based on a "confidential memorandum" by the Malacañang's Office of External Affairs (OEA) in October 2006.

In the memo, the OEA asked Malacañang to provide additional funding for the 5 party-list groups. He added that the purpose of the funding was to make sure that Mrs. Arroyo's administration would have more support in the House of Representatives and to rid Congress of "left-leaning" party-list groups.

Dizon said the memorandum also mentioned the objective of providing Mrs. Arroyo majority support for her plan to seek the House speakership and wield "the threat of impeachment" against the new president. This may also be a springboard for Charter change so that Arroyo can become prime minister.

"It is clear in the confidential memo that GMA will run as representative and get control of Congress as a speaker," he said. "It will be a GMA-controlled House of Representatives. It's part of her exit plan."

Party-list nominees

Meanwhile, Dizon said that they are just waiting for the accredited party-list groups to submit the names of their nominees on March 26 before seeking the disqualification of Pampanga 2nd District Rep. Mikey Arroyo and Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes.

There are reports that the young Arroyo will be a nominee of a party-list group representing security guards. Reyes, meanwhile, is being considered by transport group 1-UTAK to represent them in Congress.

Dizon, however, admitted that they would have hard time getting the Comelec to disqualify these nominees because they can easily secure the requirements for party-list nominee.

Section 9 of the Party-list System Act says a party-list nominee should be "a bona fide member of the party or organization which he seeks to represent for at least 90 days preceding the day of the election."

Dizon said that what’s important for the group is that they are able to expose that the Comelec is not using "an intelligent process" in the accreditation of party-list groups, and that it is "incompetent and unprepared" to hold the automated elections.