The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has confirmed a ruling that invalidates the registration of the Duterte Youth party-list because it did not meet the essential requirements for publication and hearing concerning its candidacy in 2019.
In a resolution dated Friday, the Comelec en banc—voting 5-1-1—denied the motion for reconsideration filed by the party-list, which aimed to overturn the June 2025 ruling of the poll body’s Second Division.
“The assailed resolution is hereby affirmed,” the decision read.
The ruling had annulled their registration on the grounds of being void ab initio, meaning it was invalid from the outset, due to their noncompliance with the necessary jurisdictional requirements of publication and hearing.
Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia inhibited from the case because he once served as counsel of the partylist.
In affirming the ruling, the Comelec en banc said it found “no cogent reason” to reverse the decision, adding that Duterte Youth failed to raise any valid or substantial grounds to warrant reconsideration of the assailed resolution.
The Comelec Second Division firmly stressed that, as clearly mandated by law, the duty to publish the required documents for registration lies with the party-list organization. “This includes full compliance with jurisdictional requirements such as publication and shouldering the costs thereof,” it said.
“These are not mere formalities but essential legal prerequisites that Respondent-Movant must comply with. The required publication satisfies the people’s constitutional right to information on matters of public concern,” it added.
The en banc also concurred that there is no prescriptive period for canceling the registration of party-lists.
Furthermore, it supported the division’s decision that the Duterte Youth’s “withdrawal and substitution en masse, along with the repeated switching of Respondent-Movant’s nominees on May 12, 2019, undermines the essence and purpose of the party-list system and mocks the electoral process, ultimately breaching laws, rules, and regulations pertaining to elections.”
“We will not anymore discuss these issues in detail as it would not serve any useful purpose and would merely repeat the same justifications and reasons already taken up in (the) foregoing Assailed Resolution,” the Comelec en banc ruling said.
“Any further elucidations, disquisitions and disputations would merely reiterate the same points already passed upon,” it added.
However, the Comelec said the Duterte Youth can still elevate the case to the Supreme Court.
Duterte Youth achieved a second-place finish in the elections held last May 12, receiving a total of 2,338,564 votes, which resulted in securing three seats in the House of Representatives. But its proclamation was held in abeyance pending the resolution of its cases.
In a statement released on Friday afternoon, Duterte Youth said it will elevate its motion for reconsideration before the Supreme Court and seek its declaration of the Comelec ruling as “unconstitutional.”
“We will file a Petition for Review in the Supreme Court on Monday (Sept 1) to challenge this Act of Comelec which is clearly very UNCONSTITUTIONAL and a GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION,” the party-list said.
