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MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) ordered the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday to reevaluate the accreditation of 41 of the 54 party-list groups it disqualified from the May elections.
Issuing a new set of guidelines for the agency, the high court said that organizations under the party-list system "do not need to represent 'any marginalized and underrepresented' sector," as opposed to the Comelec's reason for the disqualification of the 41 party-list groups last year.
"Sectoral parties or organizations may either be 'marginalized and underrepresented' or lacking in 'well-defined political constituencies.' It is enough that their principal advocacy pertains to the special interest and concern of the sector," the SC said.
The judicial body added that marginalized sectors include labor, peasant, fisher folk, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, handicapped, veterans and overseas workers.
Those that lack well-defined political constituencies, meanwhile, are professionals, the elderly, women and the youth.
The court added that national and regional parties or organizations may still join the elections even when some of their nominees are disqualified, so long as they have at least five remaining, qualified nominees.
Many of the disqualified party-list groups that hoped to campaign for congressional seats approached the Supreme Court with cases against Comelec, saying it committed a "grave abuse of discretion" in deciding to block their candidacies.
The high tribunal, however, ruled that the poll body carried out no such abuse and instead referred the parties' cases for Comelec's reevaluation using the court's newly issued guidelines.
Comelec will also determine whether 41 of the 54 disqualified party-list groups can still register for the upcoming elections, while the remaining 13 may be placed under the party-list system without participating in May.
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