GOV'T VIOLATES ELECTION LAWS BY FIELDING OWN PARTY-LIST GROUPS
Alexander Martin Remollino

Catholic priest Fr. Joe Dizon, convener of the anti-fraud and election monitoring group Kontra Daya, raised hell earlier this week over the Commission on Elections’s (Comelec) accreditation of a partylist group that is, by its own declaration, a project initiated by an official of the Arroyo administration and a prominent ally of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Father Dizon said the Comelec should not have accredited the partylist group that calls itself Batang Iwas Droga (Bida or Kids Avoiding Drugs), and called for the group’s disqualification from the May 2010 elections.

Bida describes itself in its website as “the brainchild” of Ephraim Genuino, chairman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor). The Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB) and the Department of Education (DepEd) are Pagcor’s project partners in Bida... READ FULL ARTICLE