Party-list impostors?

SHOULD the Commission on Elections release the names of party-list nominees?

Philippine Daily Inquirer opinion columnist Raul Pangalangan weighs in on this issue.

Here’s an excerpt from his column piece:

The Comelec is convincing in the abstract: Why, indeed, ask for names when the party-list is the antidote to the politics of personalities? Yet, the Comelec is downright crafty in the concrete: Can we trust Malacañang not to foist bogus party-list groups? When we have heard a Garci conspiring to fix the polls with that certain “Ma’am” with a distinctively raspy voice? When the canvas of the party-list votes is nationwide and is therefore most vulnerable to “dagdag-bawas” [vote-padding and vote-shaving], especially in Garci-land?

Kilosbayan, Akbayan and Bantay Katarungan (and allow me here to disclose that I chair Bantay Katarungan) impugn the authenticity of the voices uttered by the dubious groups. The elections are so near, but we must not allow these fly-by-night groups to get away with it.

One, we dilute our right to suffrage unless we vote knowingly. This isn’t a card game where the trick is to hold the cards close to one’s chest. This is a democratic election, for god’s sake, not a poker table.

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