Comelec found them lying about extent of constituencies

The poll body will not allow a group of teachers and a group of government employees to participate in the 2010 party-list elections, after they were found to have lied about the extent of their network or membership.

The 2 groups that have been denied accreditation are the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT Teachers) and the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees (COURAGE).

ACT Teachers maintained in its petition that its has 10 regional chapters. However, majority of the field offices of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) reported that the teachers' group has no members in most of the regions.

Section 3 of Republic Act 7941 or the Party-List System Act only requires those applying as national or regional parties to have constituency in majority of the regions or provinces and cities. However, the Comelec explained in its 8-page resolution, since ACT Teacher is also a sectoral party, it should have members in majority of the provinces to exist in a region.

Field reports gathered by the Comelec show that ACT Teachers does not exist in 5 of the 16 regions in the country. In the 10 regions where the group claims to have chapters, its actual presence is limited to 8 provinces, 11 municipalities, and 4 cities. The poll body said these does not constitute regional presence.

So by declaring that it has 10 regional chapters, that ACT Teachers violated the rule in RA 7941 that applicants "should not declare untruthful statements."

"In the case at bar, a careful review of the records reveal that ACT Teachers committed untruthful statements in its petition," the decision said.

ACT chair Antonio Tinio said his group will file an appeal before November 25 and prove that its 10 regional chapters exist.

The Comelec also did not approve the petition of Courage to join the party list due to its lack of membership nationwide.

"Contrary to the petitioner's claim it has nationwide constituency, the verification reports of the election officers and the provincial election supervisors of all the regions showed that Courage does not exist in their respective areas of jurisdiction," the Comelec resolution said.

The group reportedly has members only in Western Visayas, the province of Davao del Sur, a municipality in Lanao del Norte, Rizal province, and teh cities of Caloocan, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, and Quezon City in Metro Manila.

"Hence, the instant petition is infirm because the petitioner made an untruthful statement regarding its declared constituency," the resolution added. (Newsbreak)