Progressive youth group Anakbayan on Monday renewed its call to disqualify the Duterte Youth party-list, calling it a ‘fake representation’ of the Filipino youth and an enabler of political dynasties.
Anakbayan in a press statement said disqualifying Duterte Youth is “long overdue” because it exists solely to advance the political interests of former President Rodrigo Duterte and his family.
“The Duterte Youth has repeatedly revealed that its loyalty is not to the youth, but to the Dutertes. Time and time again, it swoops in only to defend and forward the interests of the family they worship–namely Rodrigo Duterte and his ilk,” said Anakbayan national chairperson Mhing Gomez.
“Their whole platform and advocacy rests on redtagging, terrortagging, and ignorance of the roots of armed conflict. Like Duterte, they prefer to silence the youth rather than listen to their demands,” Gomez added.
Anakbayan also criticized the Commission on Elections (Comelec) for allowing Duterte Youth to run in 2019 despite alleged irregularities in its registration status.
“From the start, their intentions were suspicious, but their candidacy pushed through only because of their ties with the Dutertes. They should have been disqualified back in 2019,” Gomez said.
Anakbayan urged the poll body to stop enabling political dynasties and take action to uphold the integrity of the party-list system.
“Comelec must stop colluding with political dynasties to undermine the party-list system and the entire electoral process,” the organization said.
Anakbayan also called on the Filipino youth to take a stand against fake party-lists and entrenched political families.
Comelec earlier moved to suspend the proclamation of Duterte Youth, which won in the recently concluded 2025 midterm elections, citing pending complaints questioning its eligibility.