DAVAO CITYKabataan Partylist revealed today its nominees as it
condemned earlier the existence of Malacanang-backed partylist groups
whose nominees are known Arroyo allies or government personalities.
This as the group continues to warn COMELEC and the public that these
‘bogus’ organizations are poised to dilute whatever limited democracy
bestowed by the Philippine laws to the partylist system.
Kabataan, a partylist candidate representing the marginalized youth,
said that showing their list of nominees would serve as a challenge
for other groups to do the same, as the group claimed confidence over
their authenticity in their representation and those who will be
representing their sector.
The list of nominees was posted in the official website of the
Kabataan Partylist long before the emergence of the so-called bogus
parytlists.
The issue of naming the nominees later came after some partylist
groups were discovered to be backed, supported and even financed by
Malacaang.
“We want to set a good example here of what is honesty and sincerity
in the coming elections. Other partylist groups claiming to represent
the youth have allowed themselves to be used by Malacaang. While on
the other hand, Kabataan Partylist genuinely represents the youth from
different sectors,” Karla Hyasmind Apat, Vice-President for Mindanao
said.
Their first nominee, Raymond Palatino was a former chair of the
university student council of University of the Philippines (UP) in
Diliman in 2000 and president of the National Union of Students of the
Philippines (NUSP), the largest alliance of tertiary student councils
in the country, from 2001 to 2003.
Recently, Palatino was reelected president of Kabataan Partylist and
was the unanimous choice as first nominee in the group’s bid to place
the first youth sectoral representative in Congress.
Second nominee, Enrico Almonguerra, 25, could be the youngest
representative in the 14th Congress. In 2004, he became president of
PCU Student Council and was the chairperson of NUSP chapter in the
National Capital Region. He is the current Kabataan Partylist’s Vice
President for Luzon.
Another nominee, Mary Francis Veloso, 26, was a product of the
University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu. She served as Vice President
for Visayas and Cebu chapter chairperson of Anakbayan.
According to Apat, their group’s campaign is gaining ground because
“the parents and supporters of Kabataan Partylist know that we carry
the genuine advocacies and issues of the youth sector.” #
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2007 Elections
