Buhay party list seeks to disqualify group that 'copied' its logos

The El Shaddai-backed Buhay Hayaan Yumabong (Buhay) Party-list on Monday asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to cancel the registration of another party list group that reportedly replicated its symbols. Besides using Buhay’s logos, the Alay Buhay Community Development Foundation (Alay Buhay) Party-list also printed the picture of El Shaddai leader Mike Velarde in its campaign materials, Buhay Hayaan’s counsel Romulo Macalintal told GMANews.TV.

"Velarde is a card bearing member of Buhay and a strong advocate of Buhay's pro-life advocacy. Without the knowledge and without the consent of Mike Velarde, nilagay nila ang litrato ni Mike Velarde (the group used his picture)," he said. Alay Buhay "misrepresented" itself when it used a "confusingly similar" slogan and graphics with that of Buhay, Macalintal said. Buhay's slogan is "Bawat Buhay ng Sanggol ay Mahalaga. Itaguyod natin sila (The life of every infant is important. We must fight for them)." On the other hand, Alay Buhay's slogan is "Bawat sanggol ay may karapatang isilang. Kanilang kinabukasan ating pangalagaan (Every infant has the right to be born. We must ensure their future)." Both slogans are printed on materials that have the picture of an infant, Velarde, and green and yellow as its predominant colors. "Iisipin nila ngayon, pareho lang sila, tapos associated sila (The voters will then think that the two party-lists are the same and that they are associated)," he said. These actions violate Sections 6(2) and 6(5) of Republic Act 7941 of the Party-list Law, he said. "Para sa amin mayroong paglabag sa batas, sa ilalim ng election laws, hindi ka dapat gumawa ng mga bagay na magkakaroon ng kalituhan sa ating mga botante (For us, there is a violation of the law. Under the election laws, you should not do anything that might cause voter confusion)," the lawyer said. This is the reason why Macalintal asked the Comelec to cancel Alay Buhay's registration as an accredited party-list and to issue a temporary restraining order preventing the group from using its acronym, Buhay's logo and slogan, and Velarde's picture. Earlier, the Comelec had approved the candidacies of 150 party-list groups for the 2010 polls, including Buhay and Alay Buhay. - RJAB Jr./GMANews.TV