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Comelec’s nod on AFP voters’ education forums could be a ground for impeachment of poll commissioners

The leftwing fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Thursday said top poll officials who would grant the request of the military to conduct an education and awareness campaign in the National Capital Region (NCR) may be impeached for gross violation of the 1987 Constitution, the agreement between the Department of National Defense (DND) and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and Comelec resolution no.7747.

Pamalakaya national chair and Anakpawis nominee Fernando Hicap said Comelec commissioners who would approve the military’s proposal, allowing the latter to conduct voters’ education program will face impeachment raps, saying the 19-year old charter insulated the military from engaging in partisan politics by prohibiting it from engaging directly or indirectly in the election process.

The Anakpawis nominee and fisherfolk leader issued the statement, after Comelec chair Benjamin Abalos Sr. said he did not find anything wrong with the AFP organized voters’ awareness and education forums as long as they are nonpartisan.

“Chairman Abalos is missing the point. There is a case pending before the Comelec complaining about the military’s partisan political activities in Metro Manila and the rest of the country against militant party lists critical of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration and the AFP,” Hicap said.

The Pamalakaya leader also said complaints harassment and election-related human rights violations had been filed against government troops before the Commission on Human Rights. “The Comelec is not doing its’ assignment for honest, orderly and peaceful elections. It is busy providing the venue for the military to violate the 1987 Constitution and all pertinent election laws,” Hicap added.

Pamalakaya and Anakpawis urged Chairman Abalos and the rest of the Comelec poll commissioners to act decisively in accordance with national interest and refrain from following orders from Malacañang and the military establishment.

“If Chairman Abalos wants to leave a long and lasting legacy in Comelec, he should rise above the occasion and protect the national sentiment and collective interest of the Filipino people against any Palace-AFP maneuver to dictate, if not influence the outcome of the May 14, 2007 polls,” both groups said.

Pamalakaya and Anakpawis also urged the organizers of HOPE Covenant led by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting (PPCRV), the National Press Club, the Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster Sa Pilipinas (KBP) and the CHR to oppose the plan of the AFP-NCR Command under Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino to engage the military in voters’ education program, which the militant groups said were not part of the election duties of the AFP.

This morning, militant groups led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and party list groups Bayan Muna, Anakpawis, Gabriela, Kabataan and Suara Bangsa Moro staged a picket rally outside the CHR National Office in Quezon City to press the human rights body to act on election related human rights violations perpetrated by the military deployed in NCR against leaders and members of leftwing party lists.

The activists also prodded the CHR to convince the Comelec to heed on public’s call for the pull out of government troops currently deployed in 27 urban poor barangays in Metro Manila. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 09:59 | link | comments |

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