Comelec proclaims party-list winners, defers action on two groups

Metro Manila, Philippines - Fifty-four party-list groups will have seats in the 20th Congress from the just concluded midterm polls on Monday, May 19.

The Commission on Elections, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, withheld proclamation for two groups – Duterte Youth over campaign and registration issues, and Bagong Henerasyon (BH) over a petition alleging grave violation of election laws.

Duterte Youth is one of three groups that each obtained three of the 63 party-list seats in the House of Representatives. The others are Akbayan and Tingog, which got the first and third highest votes.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said the suspension of proclamation was due to cases with pending decisions.

“Hindi po nangangahulugan na hindi kasama sa proklamasyon ay hindi nanalo…Hindi po nangangahulugan na hindi sila maproklama sa mga susunod. Ipinagpaliban muna bilang pagrespeto sa proseso rin,” said Garcia in a press briefing on Monday morning.

[Translation: This does not mean those who were not proclaimed didn’t win…It doesn’t mean too that they will not be proclaimed anymore. It was deferred to respect the process.]

Garcia said he also distanced himself from the suspension due to professional relationships in the past with the groups involved.

Youth and progressive groups earlier filed a petition to cancel the registration of Duterte Youth for supposedly committing an election offense due to red-tagging.

In March, another group of petitioners urged the poll body to decide on the petition filed in 2019, which sought to cancel Duterte Youth’s registration for participating in the elections with incomplete registration.

The Comelec also deferred proclaiming BH, which was 39th in the party-list tally.

In a statement, the two party-list groups slammed Comelec’s decision to withhold their proclamation.

“Election na nga lang ang proof na may demokrasya pa sa bansa, paglalaruan niyo pa kung sino ang makakaupo sa binoto ng milyon-milyong botante, grave abuse of discretion,” said Comelec.

[Translation: Elections are the only remaining proof that democracy still exists in the country, and yet you're still going to toy with who gets to assume the position won by millions of voters — that's a grave abuse of discretion.]

On the other hand, BH said it has yet to receive a copy of the petition.

“Handang-handa ang Bagong Henerasyon na harapin ang anumang reklamo, kahit kailan, kahit saan. Ngunit hangga’t hindi maayos na isinasapubliko ang naturang reklamo at naibibigay ang tamang proseso, ang suspensyon ng aming proklamasyon at ang pagpapawalang-saysay sa boto ng 319,803 katao ay hindi lamang isang kawalan ng hustisya. Isa po itong paglabag sa ating Saligang Batas,” it said.

[Translation: The Bagong Henerasyon is fully prepared to face any complaint, anytime, anywhere. But unless such a complaint is properly made public and due process is observed, the suspension of our proclamation and the nullification of the votes of 319,803 people is not only an injustice. It is a violation of our Constitution.]

Meanwhile, groups that ranked fourth to sixth were given two seats each. These are 4PS, ACT-CIS, and Ako-Bicol.

Groups at seventh to 54th places have one seat each.