A group of party-list lawmakers Thursday slammed the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for the delay in the resolution of electoral protests filed against 11 party-list organizations whose nominees have committed support for the speakership bid of Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Members of the newly formed Party List Alliance said Comelec should resolve the cases before the start of Congressional sessions on July 26, saying that denying the nominees the right to vote in the speakership election  is both “unfair and unjustified.”

Rep. Catalina Pizarro of ABS said the PLA is composed of at least 15 congressmen who have vowed support for Belmonte.  At least 10 members will enlist as soon as the election cases filed against them are resolved.

Pizarro, together with former Reps. Pastor Alcover of ANAD and Vigor Mendoza of 1-UTAK, wasamong the guest panelists in Thursday’s Usaping Balita News Forum in Quezon City.

“We are in limbo right now.  The problem is we cannot serve the people whom we promised to serve.  It is not right to discriminate against us, we have more votes than regular congressmen,” said nominee Sharon Garin of AAMBIS-OWA.

AAMBIS-OWA is among the 11 party-list organizations that are entitled to at least one nominee in the House of Representatives for garnering at least two percent of votes cast in the May 10 elections.

However, their proclamations have been withheld by the Comelec which, for still unknown reasons, entertained pre-proclamation protests filed by various petitioners.