MANILA, Philippines—Its track record of protecting labor rights in the Philippines decades seemed not enough for the Federation of Free Workers (FFW) to be accredited for the party-list elections.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) "did not do its homework," leading to its denial of FFW's party-list application on Tuesday, said Allan Montana, the group's head.

The poll body had included in the ballot the names of party-list groups whose applications for accreditation were pending before the start of the campaign period, in anticipation that some of them would be eventually accredited. On Tuesday, the Comelec said 22 groups--including FFW--were denied, while 5 were dismissed, so their votes will not be counted anymore come canvassing time.

“To say that the FFW has no track record, non-existent, and does not represented labor, as a marginalized sector means that the Comelec did not do its homework.... The Comelec made a reckless pronouncements resulting from its gross incompetence and serious negligence of its duties. As a result, workers will suffer the consequences,” Montana said.

The FFW claims to be one of the “oldest and largest labor groups in the country” in its press statement. Now on its 60th year, it has been working with the Labor department and other agencies as recognized representative of the workers."

Montana scored the Comelec for carelessly reviewing the FFW’s application. Montana said that they had submitted more than 100 documents to establish their “legitimacy and representation as a marginalized sector.”

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez had mentioned that the organizations were not accredited for lack of evidence that the groups have constituencies and adhere to the advocacies of the marginalized sectors that they claim to represent.

Montana accused the Comelec officials of sitting on their petitions, which gave them less chance to elevate their appeal to the Supreme Court.

He added that the FFW submitted all the documents, including application for registration and manifestation of intent to join the party-list election, ahead of the deadline. The FFW even filed 2 separate motions asking the Comelec to hasten its deliberation.

With less than a month left before the elections, Montana said it might be too late for them to ask the high court to overturn the Comelec’s decision and explain to their members that they might be wasting their resources campaigning.

The SC reversed just this month the Comelec’s decision to deny accreditation to the gay rights group Ang Ladlad, about four months after the group filed an appeal with the court.

Meanwhile, FFW's Montano said they are still studying what actions to take to challenge the poll body’s decision. (abs-cbnNews.com/Newsbreak)

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