Comelec suspends proclamation of 2 party-list groups

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Comelec Chairman George Garcia does not name the groups so as not to preempt the proclamation ceremony scheduled for Monday afternoon, May 19, but says one of them has won three seats

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) decided to suspend the proclamation of two winning party-list groups in the 2025 elections.

The Comelec, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), is set to proclaim only 52 out of the 54 groups who won 63 seats in the 20th Congress in a ceremony on Monday, May 19.

In a press conference ahead of the ceremony, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said one of the two groups with suspended proclamations was to win three seats, and the other, one seat.

“Sinuspend po ng komisyon, ng National Board of Canvassers, ang kanilang proklamasyon dahil sa pending cases nila,” said Garcia. (The commission, the National Board of Canvassers, suspended their proclamations due to their pending cases.)

Garcia added that the decision was not based on any motion or manifestation to suspend the proclamation of the groups, but on the NBOC’s own discretion along with the Comelec divisions handling the cases.

The Comelec chairman did not name the party-list groups so as not to preempt the proclamation later in the day. Based on the national certificate of canvass, there are three groups poised to win three seats each: Akbayan, Duterte Youth, and Tingog.

He also clarified that the suspension does not mean they lost the race. The Comelec divisions are still in a position to resolve the cases before June 30, when the winners of the 2025 elections assume office.

“We decided to resolve their cases first before having a proclamation because it would be unfair to [the groups] if we proclaim them first, and then remove them later on because their registration was canceled. That hurts,” Garcia said in a mix of English and Filipino.

He said that the NBOC considered the “serious allegations” raised in the petitions filed against the two party-list groups.

Duterte Youth case

Duterte Youth faces at least two cases seeking the cancellation of its registration over alleged misrepresentation. One of the cases has been around since 2019, and its original filers have urged the Comelec to put an end to it.

Garcia mentioned that one of the groups whose proclamation was suspended has had a case since 2019. The other case was filed recently.

Reporters still asked the Comelec chairman about the status of the cases against Duterte Youth, and all Garcia said was that the division saw merit in them.

Some 49.95 million votes were cast in the party-list race. Party-list groups need at least 2% to guarantee themselves a seat in Congress, but the Comelec may still award seats to groups that fall below this threshold in order to fill the 20% quota for party-list representation in the House.

The Philreca party-list group earlier argued that there should be 64 seats allocated to party-list groups based on its computation, but the NBOC decided to round down to 63, since the computed result came out at 63.5. – Rappler.com