The Commission on Elections declared only 52 of 54 party-list winners as it deferred the proclamation of the Duterte Youth and Bagong Henerasyon party-lists due to pending disqualification cases.
In the event that both Duterte Youth and BH party-lists are disqualified, the candidates ranked 55th to 58th may each be awarded one seat.
This group consists of Gabriela Women’s Party, Abono, Ang Probinsyano, and Murang Kuryente.
Three leading groups — Akbayan, Duterte Youth, and Tingog — have enough votes for three seats each, with 4Ps, ACT-CIS, and Ako Bicol each securing two seats.
For its part, progressive youth group Anakbayan said it believes that disqualifying Duterte Youth is long overdue.
“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,” Anakbayan national chairperson Mhing Gomez said in a statement.
“Their whole platform and advocacy rest on red-tagging, terror-tagging, and ignorance of the roots of armed conflict. Like Duterte, they prefer to silence the youth rather than listen to their demands,” she added.
Meanwhile, the Comelec is stepping up its call for amendments to the party-list law to allow only legitimate groups that represent the marginalized sectors to take part.
“I will always push for the amendment of the law. The party-list law needs to be amended,” Comelec chairperson George Garcia said in a press briefing, referring to Republic Act No. 7491 or the Party-list System law.
He said amending RA No. 7491 is an “ongoing call” of the poll body.
“I believe even party-list organizations will always aspire to a new law to reflect the true sentiments of marginalized and underrepresented sectors,” he said.
RA 7941 aims to promote proportional representation in the House of Representatives through a party-list system of registered parties or organizations of Filipinos belonging to marginalized and underrepresented sectors.
“Some say that the party-list is no longer marginalized and underrepresented. In the end, that is what the law should be,” Garcia said.