2 weeks ago
7
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Gabriela and two to three other groups stand to benefit if the poll victories of Duterte Youth and Bagong Henerasyon are invalidated
Fifty-two out of 54 party-list groups that made it to the winning circle in the 2025 elections have been proclaimed, but can those who just barely missed the cut — including Gabriela — still have a chance?
The scenario of late entries to Congress is not confined to the world of imagination, as it happened in 2024 with Akbayan, the beneficiary of the Commission on Elections’ (Comelec) decision to nullify the registration papers of An Waray.
In the 2025 elections, two party-list groups are facing legal challenges that threaten to invalidate their poll victories — Duterte Youth and Bagong Henerasyon (BH).
Akbayan’s case
Akbayan was already subject to delisting in 2025, in the wake of its back-to-back losses in 2019 and 2022 elections. In the 2022 poll cycle, it placed 58th in the race in which 57 party-list groups made the cutoff.
In June 2023 though, a year after the 19th Congress convened, a Comelec division moved to void the registration of regional group An Waray over an election offense it committed a decade ago.
An Waray was punished for letting its second nominee assume a congressional seat in 2013 despite the absence of a certificate of proclamation from the Comelec. The poll body granted a 2019 petition that sought to punish An Waray for violating the party-list law.
The division ruling was not immediately executory, and An Waray exhausted all legal remedies available. The timeline is as follows:
- June 2, 2023: The Comelec’s 2nd Division granted the petition for the cancellation of An Waray’s registration papers.
- August 14, 2023: The Comelec en banc denied petitioners’ appeal.
- September 27, 2023: The House of Representatives unseated then-An Waray representative Bem Noel after the Supreme Court ignored the group’s request for reprieve.
- September 16, 2024: The Supreme Court upheld the cancellation of An Waray’s registration.
- September 25, 2024: The Comelec belatedly proclaimed Akbayan the winner of the 2022 elections. Perci Cendaña took his oath of office before Speaker Martin Romualdez in an open plenary later the same day.
Had Akbayan not benefited from An Waray’s nightmare, it would have been barred from running in the 2025 elections, as the law requires party-list groups that lose two consecutive elections to sit the third one out.
But fate had other plans, and in 2025, Akbayan topped the party-list race for the first time since it joined the elections in 1998. It also secured three seats for the first time since 2004.
Embattled party-list groups
In 2025, a total of four seats could be up for grabs even after the elections, in case the two party-list groups that won them get disqualified by the Comelec.
Duterte Youth, which ranked second in the 2025 race and is entitled to three seats, is accused of misrepresentation in at least two cases filed with the Comelec, prompting the poll body to suspend its proclamation.
A disqualification case, meanwhile, was filed against BH for alleged violation of the Omnibus Election Code, particularly the provisions barring the intervention of public officers and employees in campaigns, and use of public funds. The Comelec also withheld its proclamation papers.
“Bagong Henerasyon is fully prepared to face any complaint, anytime, anywhere. But unless such a complaint is properly made public and given due process, the suspension of our proclamation — and the nullification of the votes of 319,803 people — is not just an injustice. It is a violation of our Constitution,” BH said in a statement.
“I’m telling you, Comelec, and those controlling Comelec, if you do not let us take our seats and merely allow us to speak about our advocacy for the country, we will tell the people about all the wrongdoing in Congress and Comelec, how many of you are making millions from decisions, accreditations, projects, and funds,” Duterte Youth chairperson Ronald Cardema added.
Who will benefit
If the two party-list groups lose their legal battle, up to four defeated party-list groups can benefit: Gabriela (rank 55), Abono (rank 56), Ang Probinsiyano (rank 57), and Murang Kuryente (rank 58).
That’s because Republic Act No. 7941 states that 20% of the total number of House members must come from party-list groups. The Supreme Court, in Banat vs Comelec, reinforced that position, essentially compelling the poll body to proclaim even party-list groups that do not meet the 2% vote threshold as long as they rank high enough in the elections, so that no party-list seat remains vacant.
“If considered stray, then these 2,327,549 votes [for Duterte Youth] will be excluded in the computation of party-list seats allocations, not only opening seats, but admitting new party-list groups to the winning circle,” said Emil Marañon III, counsel for the petitioners seeking to nullify Duterte Youth’s election win.
There is nothing that the defeated party-list groups can do but wait, though. Their fate lies in the hands of the Comelec, and eventually the Supreme Court.
If the Akbayan template were an indication, the entire process could take years.
Comelec could just as easily junk the cases against Duterte Youth and BH, shutting the door on any hope for groups that are hovering just below the winning threshold. – Rappler.com
