ELECTION watchdog Kontra Daya yesterday scored the Tingog party-list and the family of Rep. Martin Romualdez for manipulating the party-list system to enable his wife Yedda to become a member of the House of Representatives.
In a statement, Kontra Daya said condemned how the Romualdezes were able to work on the system’s loopholes, which allowed Yedda to became Tingog’s new third nominee in the lower house.
“This is further evidence that political dynasties are gaming the party-list system to extend their political power,” said Kontra Daya convenor Danilo Arao.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) last week declared Yedda as the third nominee of Tingog party-list despite originally being the group’s sixth nominee.
This after the original third nominee, Marie Josephine Calatrava, resigned for personal reasons.
Alexis Yu and Paul Richard Muncada, the fourth and fifth nominees, respectively, were removed as nominees due to their election as officers of the group. The group’s constitution and by laws state that its officers cannot be named as its nominees in Congress.
The declaration of Yedda as the Tingog’s third nominee means that she will join her son, Rep. Andrew Romualdez (1st nominee), and Rep. Jude Acidre (2nd nominee) as the group’s representatives in the 20th Congress.
Arao, in a phone interview, said the development with the Tingog party-list makes it imperative for lawmakers to pass a law that will prevent such manipulation.
“Our call for Congress remains (for them) to enact the anti-dynasty bill,” he said, adding that lawmakers should also “come up with necessary election reforms, including with the party-list system.”
