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The enviable Akbayan

Gutierrez and Crisostomo on GMA News
In his verbal sparring with Anakbayan’s Vencer Crisostomo at ANC last week, Barry Gutierrez, undersecretary for political affairs in the Office of the President, exuded the smugness of people who are well-entrenched in the center of power. Nakasandal sa pader.

He said there are many Akbayan members who are holding high positions in the Aquino government because they supported Benigno Aquino III in the 2010 elections. Sorry na lang with Bayan Muna and its affiliate organizations like Anakbayan because they supported Manny Villar.

Yes, to the victors belong the spoils.

The list of Akbayan members appointed in the Aquino administration include: Ronald Llamas, presidential political affairs adviser; – Etta Rosales, chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights; – Joel Rocamora, head of National Anti-Poverty Commission which is being questioned by the Commission on Audit for its hiring of 81 contractual personnel and 19 consultants paid out of its “maintenance and other operating expenses”; Percival Cendena, commissioner-at-large of the National Youth Commission.

Akbayan is very well represented in two government pension agencies: Former Akbayan representative Mario Aguho is member of the board of the Government Service and Insurance System while Daniel Edralin is a commissioner of the Social Security Services.

Gutierrez is Akbayan’s second nominee and Angelina Ludovice-Katoh, a Commissioner in the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor, is the third nominee.

Gutierrez’s reply about Akbayan having supported Aquino misses the point of the issue against them which is their no longer being marginalized.

Section 5, Article VI of the Constitution, provides that ” The House of Representatives shall be composed of not more than two hundred and fifty members, unless otherwise fixed by law, who shall be elected from legislative districts apportioned among the provinces, cities, and the Metropolitan Manila area in accordance with the number of their respective inhabitants, and on the basis of a uniform and progressive ratio, and those who, as provided by law, shall be elected through a party-list system of registered national, regional, and sectoral parties or organizations.”

It also states that “ The party-list representatives shall constitute twenty per centum of the total number of representatives including those under the party list. For three consecutive terms after the ratification of this Constitution, one-half of the seats allocated to party-list representatives shall be filled, as provided by law, by selection or election from the labor, peasant, urban poor, indigenous cultural communities, women, youth, and such other sectors as may be provided by law, except the religious sector.”

This Party List provision has been much abused and bastardized.
During the Arroyo administration, Akbayan led by it’s the Rep. Etta Rosales exposed several dubious partylist groups. Rosales articulated the disdain of many over the nomination of the late Angelo Reyes by, I-UTAK, a partylist group supposedly representing transport groups.

“What is more bothersome is the fact that the transport group 1-UTAK should offer its first slot to a GMA cabinet member, Angelo Reyes, whose loyalty to the President today is measured by the years of service he has given to her in the various cabinet posts he has held regardless of experience these past 9 years,” Rosales said.

It’s ironic that Akbayan finds itself at the receiving end of similar accusations they were hurling against pro-Arroyo groups then.

The Commission on Elections is in the process of cleansing the list of bogus leaders of the marginalized groups. They have already disqualified more than 35 groups, among them Mikey Arroyo’s Ang Galing which is supposed to represent security guards and tricyle drivers in Congress and the vote-getter Ako Bicol supposedly representing marginalized Bicolanos but is represented by a multi-millionaire in Congress.

Several groups including Kontra Daya led by Fr. Joe Dizon and the Catholic Church-backed Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting are questioning Akbayan’s claim of representing the marginalized. “How can they be marginalized if their leaders are already holding top positions in the government? I think it’s not right,” said PPCRV chairperson Henrietta de Villa.

Akbayan members argue that the representatives need not be marginalized persons as long as they represent the concerns of the marginalized groups.

Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello insists that “Akbayan is a multi-sectoral party-list that has always represented the marginalized, the peasant workers, indigenous men and women, and overseas Filipinos.

While it calls itself a sectoral party, Akbayan straddles with mainstream politics. At the proclamation of the Aquino administration senatorial candidates for the 2013 elections, where former Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros is included, the streamers bannered the coalition as “LP,Akbayan, NPC, NP, LDP”

Akbayan takes pride with it. In a statement, it said,”While others have contented themselves to the usual roles confined to them by the political system, Akbayan continues to shape its place in mainstream politics.”

They are having their cake and eating it too. Talagang nakaka-inggit.

Published in2013 electionsPolitics

294 Comments

  1. kung nanalo si villar, malamang yung bayan muna ang maappoint sa mga juicy positions in govt.

  2. Jojo Jojo

    you are very correct Mr. #1 johnmarzan. sabi nga ni Erap weder weder lang yan.

  3. manuelbuencamino manuelbuencamino

    Eh papaano naman yun mga constituents ng Akbayan na umaasa sa CDF ng partido, sori na lang sila kasi yun mga lider nila ay nasa administrasyon na? Biglang nawala na lang ang mga pangangailangan ng mga constituents kasi na-appoint yun iba sa mga lider nila sa administrasyon? Saan kukunin yun P70M para sa mga pangangailangan ng constituents dun sa budget ng mga appointed officials?

    Talagang nakakainggit para sa Anakbayan at mga kaalyado nilang utak talangka ang success ng Akbayan. Sigurado kung ano ang saya ng mga constituents ng Akbayan ganun din ang lungkot ng mga constituents mg Anakbayan.

    Ako medyo asar sa Anakbayan kasi ninakaw lang nila ang pangalan ng isa sa pinaka paborito kong banda. Ang Anakbayan party list ay lumabas lang nung 1998. Ang Anakbayan banda na binuo ng mga dating miyembro ng Juan dela Cruz Band ay nagsimula nung tumogtog sila sa isang anti-Vietnam War rally kung saan kasama si Jane Fonda at Donald Sutherland. So ilan dekada sila nauna sa pangalan na Anakbaya

    So yan Akbayan partylist inggitero na magnanakaw pa ng pangalan.

  4. chi chi

    Akbayan, Anakbayan…pati pangalan nila nakakalito.

    Kung ganyan karami ang nasa admin ni Pnoy na members ng Akbayan, mag-aaply na sila partido political dahil hindi na sila sectoral o marginalized.

    Weder weder lang talaga.

  5. Gabriela Gabriela

    #1, Kung nanalo si Villar, at katulad ng Akbayan,maraming appointed sa kanila sa executive department, di punahin din at i-protesta kasi garapal.

    That’s public vigilance which we should always keep alive. That’s to prevent or stop abuse of those in power.

  6. Gabriela Gabriela

    http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/news/nation/12852-coa-not-amused-by-poverty-panels-idea-of-alleviating-poverty

    THE Commission on Audit has questioned the National Anti-Poverty Commission’s hiring of 81 contractual personnel and 19 consultants in 2011, who were paid P27.97 million out of the agency’s “maintenance and other operating expenses.”

    Auditors noted that NAPC has an approved payroll for a staff of 50 but it had filled up only 24 positions.

    However, in addition to its regular staff, contractual personnel and 19 consultants, the agency also hired 49 part-timers as “documentors, transcribers, researchers and facilitators.”

    “NAPC hired 81 employees under Contract of Service (COS), 19 consultants and 49 others to augment its personnel complement, thus incurring expenses for Other Professional Services totaling P27,972,756.17,” COA noted.

    The hiring of non-plantilla people was NAPC’s single biggest expenditure item in 2011.

  7. Gabriela Gabriela

    National Anti-Poverty Commission is headed by one of Akbayan’s prominent leaders, Joel Rocamora.

  8. chi chi

    #6. Swak mo. Vigilance is non-partisan.

  9. felemun felemun

    kung aalisin ba ang “CDF” o “Pork Barrel” eh madami pa kaya ang maghahangad sa pinagpipitaganang salita na “SERBISYO PUBLIKO”

  10. Akbayan’s P112M war chest: Kris is biggest donor

    By RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News

    Akbayan party-list group received P112 million in campaign contributions for the 2010 national elections. Of this amount, P14 million came from three of President Benigno Aquino III’s sisters.

    Based on the statement of election contributions and expenditures filed by Akbayan, it received a total of P112,183,000.00 from February 9 to May 8, 2010.

    Political party organizations contributed to less than 5% of the total amount at P5,250,000. The P106,933,000 came from individual persons.

    Kristina Bernadette Aquino-Yap was listed to be its biggest contributor, with P10 million. Maria Elena “Ballsy” Aquino Cruz, meanwhile, gave P2 million. Victoria Aquino-Dee, on the other hand, gave another P2 million.

    Their family friend Margarita Juico, now chairman of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, gave P1 million.

    National Anti-Poverty Commission chief Jose Eliseo Rocamora contributed P1 million. Current Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello contributed some P1.4 million.

    Based on their expenditures, Akbayan spent P69,440,770 on advertisements in ABS-CBN, GMA Network, TV-5 and TAPE, Inc.

    Their total expenditure for the 2010 elections is at P112,174,008.70.

    Read more: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/10/25/12/akbayans-p112m-war-chest-kris-biggest-donor

  11. chi chi

    Hindi marginalized ang Akbayan kung ganyan na ang mga sponsors ay elite. It represents the elite sector of our society.

    Hindi tatanggal ni Mang Sixto yan sa listahan ng party-list. Kaswerte talaga ng Akbayan.

  12. Jorge Capule Jorge Capule

    Teka muna, may nalabag bang batas ang pamilyang Aquino sa pagbibigay sa Akbayan?

    Since Anakbayan vs Akbayan ang pinaguusapan, maari din bang ilabas yung campaign spending/contributor ng Anakbayan? at ni Satur Ocampo at Lisa Maza nung tumakbo sila ng pagka-Senador?

    Kung mayroong may alam na site na may ganitong info, paki-post na lang po. Maraming salamat.

  13. Babalik pa ba kaya si Riza Hontiveros sa pag sali sa rally. Kung ako ang malapit sa kanya hindi ko papayagan kasi nabibilad lang ang ganda niya.

  14. Gabriela Gabriela

    You may not like Tiglao being the mouthpiece of GMA but his numbers here are true and devastating to Akbayan.

    Calling Akbayan mercenary, “bayaran” in Filipino, would be too kind for these hypocrites who have damaged the idea of socialism for our country. In the labor movement in which I was a communist cadre in my youth, we called fake unions controlled by the capitalists the yellow unions, the “dilawan,” despised more than strike-busting goons and scabs as they confused the working class.

    Akbayan is Mr. Aquino’s dilawan in the Philippine political landscape, the fake party-list in the service of this yellow administration.

    http://opinion.inquirer.net/39850/unmasked-akbayan-is-aquinos-dilawan

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