MANILA - THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) proclaimed on May 19 the COOP-NATCCO Partylist as one of the winning party-list groups in the May 12 mid-term elections.

COOP-NATCCO Partylist will occupy one seat in the House of Representatives through Representative Felimon Espares, the number one nominee.

The party-lists will have 63 sectoral seats, representing 20 percent of the membership of the House of Representatives in accordance with the Partylist Law of 1997.

Of the 63 Partylist groups that won seats, COOP-NATCCO was positioned at 19th, with 509,913 votes.

While COOP-NATCCO leaders are disappointed at wining just one seat, the "Coop Bloc" occupies five seats in Congress -- assuring the sector of having voices in the Legislative Branch of Government.

Other "Coop Bloc" partylists that also won one seat are: Agricultural Sector Alliance of the Philippines (AGAP), with 469,412 votes; Aurora Integrated Multi-Purpose Cooperative (One Coop) with 334,098 votes; Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives (APEC) with 310,427 votes; and the last to win a seat, standing at 64th, was Philippine Rural Electric Cooperatives Association Inc. (Philreca), with 261,045 votes.

Since first winning a seat in the 1998 elections, COOP-NATCCO Partylist has been the voice of the co-op sector in Congress.