Migrante-Middle East (ME) on Thursrday criticized the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for delisting an overseas Filipino worker (OFW)-backed party-list group from contending in the 2010 national elections.

The Comelec withdrew the accreditation of 26 party-list groups, including Migrante, “for failing to get at least two percent of the votes cast in the 2004 and 2007 elections.’’

“Comelec En Banc Resolution No. 8679 issued on October 13, 2009 delisting the 26 party-lists including the Migrante Party-List is a big blow to OFWs and their families’ quest for genuine sectoral representation in Congress,” Migrante-ME regional coordinator John Leonard Monterona said.

Migrante-ME is an umbrella group of numerous OFW organizations in the Middle East where nearly 2.6 million Filipino work.

Monterona said that the Comelec may have erred on its interpretation of Section 6 of the Party-List System Act (R.A. 7941) by wrongfully applying the provision to the case of Migrante Party-List and five other party-list groups.

“It was only during the May 10, 2004 party-list elections that Migrante Party-List participated but unfortunately was not able to get the two percent of the total party-list votes,” said Monterona, who was then one of Migrante Party-List nominees.

But he pointed out that Migrante Party-list did not take part in the May 14, 2007 elections, thus making Section 6 (8) of R.A. 7941 inapplicable to the OFW-supported party-list.

The provision states that a party-list group can be delisted or removed if “it fails to participate in the last two preceding elections or fails to obtain at least two percent of the votes cast under the party-list system in the two preceding elections for the constituency in which it has registered.”

“Migrante Party-List should be allowed to participate because the organizations and chapters behind it with presence around the world have proven track records of advancing the rights and welfare of the sector it represents—the 10 million OFWs abroad and their families back home,” Monterona said.