KOKO: PARTYLIST GROUPS SHOULD HELP
SOLVE MINDANAO POWER CRISIS

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III, PDP Laban President, today challenged party-list groups APEC and 1-CARE, both recently disqualified by the Commission on Elections from taking part in the 2013 elections for not belonging to the marginalized sectors, to prove their representation of marginalized electricity consumers by advancing proposals to solve the Mindanao power crisis.

"I urge the partylist groups representing electric cooperatives in Mindanao to advance concrete proposals on how to solve the ongoing power shortfall in Mindanao and help the marginalized sectors who they claim to represent," Pimentel said.

"Now is the proper time for APEC and 1-CARE to prove their worth as the representatives of the marginalized. With Mindanao still reeling from regular power outages, the power sector partylist groups should contribute in a positive way to solving the problem," Pimentel said.

The Comelec recently disallowed APEC and 1-CARE, along with a number of partylist groups, from participation in the May 2013 polls for not belonging to the "marginalized" and "underrepresented" sectors as provided for by the Constitution and the Party-List Act.

The two partylist groups have gone to the Supreme Court to ask for a reversal of the Comelec ruling.

Pimentel said the two partylist groups, with their resources and staff in Congress, should be drawing up a list of concrete actions by the government, the private sector and civil society groups to address the debilitating power crisis in Mindanao, which is part of the advocacy for their alleged sector, which has set back socio-economic development in the entire island.