Butil party-list condemned the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) decision disqualifying it from participating in 2013’s midterm elections.

Butil accused the poll body of marginalizing farmers further in disqualifying them from seeking fresh mandate in the 2013 polls.

Rep. Agapito Guanlao of Butil stressed that farmer groups are up in arms over the “arbitrary” decision of the poll body.

“There is no logic to the decision of Comelec. How can they say that farmers are not marginalized? If farmers are not marginalized, who else would qualify?” Guanlao said.

Butil is among the original party-list groups that were accredited and ran in 1998.

However, the poll body now ruled that agricultural and farmer cooperatives as not included in the list of nine marginalized groups in the Supreme Court ruling on the Ang Bagong Bayani vs. Comelec case.

“Comelec said farmer cooperatives do not fall under the peasants category. Our members could not believe such a ruling because everybody knows that farmers are peasants too,” Guanlao said.

“And if Comelec’s reasoning is that cooperatives are not marginalized, how come other cooperative groups were allowed to run as party-list organizations? Their ruling is so arbitrary,” he added.

Guanlao said that the party-list will seek relief from the High Court on Monday to secure a temporary restraining order and a status quo ante order against the Comelec ruling.

Guanlao accused the Comelec of making a mockery of the party-list system by disqualifying groups that the poll body already accredited in previous rulings.    

Earlier, the chairman of the electoral reforms committee of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, has warned that the process adopted by the poll body in disqualifying party-list groups might be seen as a form of “witch hunt” or “inquisition.”    Lawyer Vincent Pepito Jr. said that the poll body’s “zealousness” was not done in accordance with existing laws.

“While the Comelec’s perseverance is to be admired and commended, it should not be amiss to uphold the basic tenets of due process and equal protection,” he said.

Yambao, who is also a consultant to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, said that the poll body should also have adopted separate standards and procedures in assessing the fitness of new organizations applying for party-list registration as opposed to those whose groups who have already been accredited.