Comelec suspends proclamation of Duterte Youth, Bagong Henerasyon party-lists amid pending disqualification cases
The Commission on Elections suspended the proclamation of the Duterte Youth and Bagong Henerasyon party-lists on May 19 due to pending disqualification cases before the poll body.
Comelec, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers, announced the suspension before it proclaimed 52 winning party-lists.
According to ABS-CBN News, the NBOC's Resolution No. 14-25 cited the petition against Duterte Youth filed by Reeva Beatrice Magtalas, Abigail Aleli Tan, Raainaih Punzalan, and Aunell Ross Angcos on May 15, as well as the Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines and student regents of Polytechnic University of the Philippines and University of the Philippines on May 8.
The petition against Bagong Henerasyon, meanwhile, was filed by lawyer Russel Stanley Geronimo.
“Considering the serious allegations raised in the above petitions which involve grave violation of election laws, the National Board of Canvassers resolves to suspend the proclamation of Duterte Youth Party-list and BH Bagong Henerasyon Party-list,” the resolution read.
Earlier in the day, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said two party-lists won't be proclaimed as winners. Without naming the party-lists, he said one of them won three seats. (Only Akbayan, Duterte Youth, and Tingog won three seats each.)
Garcia noted that the suspension of the proclamation doesn't mean the two groups have already lost. Their cases are set to be resolved by June 30, the day that winning candidates of the 2025 midterm elections assume office.
Duterte Youth aims to support the detained former president Rodrigo Duterte. Bagong Henerasyon, meanwhile, seeks to provide livelihood programs, address gender inequality, and empower small businesses.
Duterte Youth got three seats while BH got one seat.
'Grave abuse of discretion'
In a statement, Duterte Youth called out Comelec for its supposed "grave abuse of discretion" in not proclaiming it as a winning party-list group.
It said it will challenge Comelec's move before the Supreme Court.
Duterte Youth mentioned its top nominees and their supposed ages: Drixie Cardema, 28; Berlin Lingwa, 26; and Ron Bawalan, 26.
Last March, Kabataan Party-list filed an urgent motion asking Comelec to resolve the petition seeking to cancel Duterte Youth's party-list registration and/or declare the nullity of its registration.
The group argued that Duterte Youth was dishonest about the ages of their nominees.
Section 9 of Republic Act No. 7491, or the Party-list System Act, states that a nominee of the youth sector must be at least 25 but not more than 30 on election day. Those who would reach 30 during their term shall be allowed to continue until it ends.
“Nationally-elected by more than 2.3 million Filipinos, these 3 Iskolars ng Bayan from UP, PNPA, & PMA, are scheduled to be proclaimed today as the youngest set of congressmen in the Philippine Republic but is currently being derailed deliberately by Comelec,” Duterte Youth said.
It questioned why Comelec allowed it to run in 2019 and 2022 amid the "very serious" allegations from the case filed by Kabataan.
"It is not the fault of the Duterte Youth Party-List if the COMELEC did not dismiss that 'hao shao case' after its last hearing in 2019, and now COMELEC is trying to subvert the votes of the Filipino People by delaying an Election Proclamation scheduled today," it said.
It also called the case filed by Kabataan as "pure harassment."
It also reiterated its responses to arguments, like Duterte Youth not being registered in the Comelec.
"That is not possible," it said. "Comelec will not allow a non-registered entity to join in the elections. The Supreme Court even ruled on it when the same petitioners raised it in the Supreme Court, the SC dismissed them in 2020."
It also dismissed accusations of vote-buying and promotion of violence.
Duterte Youth Chairman Ronald Cardema—who Comelec had disqualified as party-list representative during the 2019 elections as he was already 34—also did not mince words in criticizing Comelec.
"Sinasabi ko sa inyo Comelec at sa nagkokontrol sa Comelec," Cardema said in all caps, "kapag kami hindi ninyo pinaupo at hinayaan lamang magsalita sa adbokasiya namin sa bansa, sasabihin namin sa taumbayan lahat ng kalokohan sa Kongreso at Comelec kung paano nagkakapera ng milyon-milyon sa mga decisions, accreditations, and projects at funds ang karamihan sa inyo dyan."
"Wala kaming pakialam dyan mga pamemera niyo sa gobyerno dahil hindi kami kasali dyan at busy kami sa pakikipaglaban sa mga kalaban ng gobyerno pero 'pag kami na ibinoto ng milyon-milyong Pilipino ay tatarantaduhin ninyo, ikekwento namin lahat sa taumbayan ang mga kalookohan ninyo sa gobyernong ito," he added.
The top three party-lists—Akbayan, Duterte Youth, and Tingog—will get three seats, followed by the next three—4PS, ACT-CIS, and Ako Bicol—with two seats each. Those in the 7th to 54th spots will be given one seat each.
Party-lists that got at least 2% of the votes are guaranteed one seat from the 63 available seats, with additional seats depending on more votes. Groups can only have a maximum of three seats each. If there are still available seats from the 63 slots, they will be distributed to the remaining top groups.
According to the 1987 Constitution, members of the House of Representatives can serve three-year terms up to three consecutive times only.
Newly elected party-list and district representatives, as well as the 12 incoming senators, will take their oaths and begin their terms in the 20th Congress on June 30.
The midterm elections were held on May 12.
This year's 68.4 million registered voters surpassed the 65.7 million count in 2022.
Comelec said this year's elections also saw an 81.65% voter turnout in the early count, the highest in the history of the country's midterm polls.
A total of 18,320 national and local positions were up for grabs.
