Last week, the Philippines Commission on Elections (Comelec) denied a petition by the country’s Ang Ladlad LGBT Party to participate in the 2010 national elections, because “the definition (by Ang Ladlad) of the LGBT sector makes it crystal clear that petitioner tolerates immorality which offends religious beliefs.”

Ang Ladlad had filed their petition on the grounds that the Philippines’ LGBT community was under-represented in the Congress.  Now, Comelec second division chairman Nicodemus Ferrer has responded to this, according to the Philippine Star, saying that gays are actually over-represented.

Comelec second division chairman Nicodemus Ferrer was defending the poll body’s rejection of the application of gay-rights group Ang Ladlad for party-list representation.

“I have been telling them, you are not under-represented… actually you are over-represented in the Lower House and Upper House,” Ferrer told reporters in an interview. But Ferrer declined to name names.

But he said that by getting elected, gay officials have already proven that members of the third sex can be part of the “mainstream community” and should therefore not be considered marginalized.

In support of his decision, Ferrer reference a Penal Code which condemns “those who shall publicly expound or proclaim doctrines openly contrary to public morals.”