The Commission on Elections (Comelec) closed the door on Monday to mounting requests for the extension of Monday’s 5 p.m. deadline for the filing of petitions for the registration of political parties, sectoral organizations and coalitions under the party-list system of legislative representation saying it has to keep on target its preparations for the May 10, 2010 polls by adhering faithfully to its calendar of activities and periods of prohibitive acts as contained in its en banc Resolution 8646.

The Comelec, led by Chairman Jose A.R. Melo, said that aside from the need to keep the preparations on target, the extension of the deadline appears unnecessary based on the volume of petitions filed for registration of political parties, sectoral organizations and coalitions, the approval of which will cloth them with juridical personality to participate in next year’s major political exercise.

Records at the Office of the Comelec Secretary headed by Atty. Ma. Josefina E. Dela Cruz that attended to the filers showed that even before the 5 p.m. deadline, almost 200 petitions had already been filed, it was pointed out.

If the petitions get Comelec favorable action, they will be added to the list of more than 100 registered political parties and 93 party-list groups that were accredited to participate in the May 14, 2007 elections.

None of the 93 sectoral organizations and coalitions that were accredited by the Comelec for the May 14, 2007 elections is likely to be delisted for the May 10, 2010 polls in the light of April 21, 2009 decision of the Supreme Court declaring unconstitutional the two percent threshold vote for purposes of allocating party-list legislative seats, according to prominent election lawyers Francisco B. Sibayan and Sixto S. Brillantes Jr.

Sibayan and Brillantes said failure to obtain two percent threshold vote in two successive elections used to be a ground for delisting a sectoral organization or coalition under the Party-List law but this can no longer be invoked because the High Court declared it unconstitutional.

The bulk of new petitions are for the registration of sectoral organizations and coalitions under Section 29 of Republic Act 6646 and Section 28 of RA 8436, the Party-List Law. Less than 10 of the petitions are for registration of political parties.