POLL watchdog Kontra Daya yesterday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to revoke the registration of the Vendors party-list group and disqualify it from running in the May 12 polls.
In a 31-page verified complaint, Kontra Daya alleged that the Vendors party-list sectoral organization violated Section 6(5) of R.A. No. 7941, or the “Act Providing for the Election of Party-List Representatives through the Party-List System.”
It said that th group supposedly failed to “comply with existing election regulations requiring the nomination of only citizens that genuinely belong to the vendors sector and, at the same time, misrepresenting the qualifications of such nominees.”
“In view thereof, it is respectfully prayed of this Honorable Commission to declare the registration of defendant Vendors party-list as invalid and cancel its accreditation as a sectoral organization for failure to comply with the requirements under R.A. No. 7941 and the 1987 Constitution; and disqualify defendant Vendors party-list and its nominees from participating in the party-list elections of the 2025 National and Local Elections,” it also said.
In particular, Kontra Daya said that the first three nominees of the party-list are not from the vendors sector as they claimed to represent.
It said that first nominee Marilou Lipana is an officer of several private firms that entered into projects with different government agencies, while second nominee Florencio Pesigan is the owner of an advertising agency and is a former councilor in Talisay, Batangas.
The group’s third nominee, Sheryl Sandil, is supposedly is engaged in hardware and gasoline business.
“Clearly, the nominees of Vendors was not a result of a democratic process of convention of its members, but upon the discretion of Ms. Lipana, who selected herself and her friends as nominees,” said the Kontra Daya petition.
“From these foregoing facts, Complainant respectfully submits that Vendors is not qualified to represent the sector for which its petition has been filed, and has no bona fide intention to represent said sector,” it added.
Based on their petition for registration, the Vendors party-list said it represents “individuals who are market, street, and sidewalk vendors, as well as those who support and forward the cause of vendors.”
It claimed that the majority of its members
belong to the sector which it seeks to represent, by reason of having 651 members who are market vendors; 1,115 members who are street vendors; 7,089 members who are sidewalk vendors; and 445 members who are advocates for the rights and interests of vendors.
