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MANILA, Philippines — Although listed among the 54 party-lists that secured seats, Duterte Youth and Bagong Henerasyon were not proclaimed on Monday, May 19, due to unresolved disqualification petitions.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) suspended the proclamation of two party-lists following a May 17 recommendation from its Supervisory Committee.
Duterte Youth
Duterte Youth, which placed second in the party-list race with over 2.3 million votes, faces two disqualification cases: one for red-tagging and another for allegedly lacking proper registration.
The first case was filed on May 8 by student leaders from various state universities, citing the group’s red-tagging of critics and activists. Comelec Resolution 11116 classifies wrongful labeling, including red-tagging, as an election offense.
The second petition, originally filed in 2019 by Reeya Beatrice Magtalas, Abigail Aleli Tan, Raainah Punzalan and Aunell Ross Angcos, remains unresolved after more than five years.
The petition questioned the party-list's qualification and sought to nullify its registration for alleged material misrepresentation.
What happened in 2019. It centered on the substitution of Duterte Youth Chair Ronald Cardema as the party’s nominee after its original five nominees withdrew post-election but prior to proclamation.
Cardema, over the 30-year age limit for youth sector representatives, was disqualified in August 2019 for material misrepresentation. Comelec upheld the decision in 2020 after denying his motion for reconsideration.
His wife, Ducielle Marie Suarez Cardema, one of the original nominees who had earlier withdrawn, later assumed the seat.
Petitioners also claimed the party-list failed to publish its list of nominees, a requirement under election rules to validate party-list legitimacy.
“It must be recalled that in SPA No. 19-009 (DC), the PETITIONERS raised the fact that per Comelec’s own record, it appears that Duterte Youth Party-List is not even a registered part-list group, hence, should not have been allowed to run in the first place,” Emil Marañon, petitioners’ legal counsel, said in a May 18 statement.
If disqualified? Marañon explained that the more than 2.3 million votes received by the party-list should be subject to “further determination by the Comelec,” since the Omnibus Election Code states that votes for non-candidates “shall be considered as a stray vote.”
This means their votes will be excluded from the seat allocation, potentially allowing more party-lists to secure seats, as Duterte Youth has enough votes for three seats.
The party-list said in a statement that it plans to challenge the delayed proclamation in the Supreme Court. It argued that if the petition's allegations were so serious, dating back to 2019, it raises the question of why the group was allowed to assume its position in Congress and be re-elected.
The nominees. Drixie Mae Cardema (incumbent), Berlin Lingwa and Ron Godfrey Bawalan are expected to assume congressional seats as party-list nominees should the case resolution be in their favor.
Bagong Henerasyon
Other than Duterte Youth, Bagong Henerasyon is also reportedly facing a disqualification case. However, no specific details or grounds for its disqualification have been disclosed as of writing.
In a statement sent to reporters, the party-list said it has not received any explanation, copy of the disqualification complaint or summons from the poll body, calling the move unjust.
Bagong Henerasyon has filed an urgent motion to proclaim the party-list upon the suspension.
Comelec Chairperson George Garcia told reporters that the poll body has until June 30 to resolve the cases, as that is when party-lists and senators-elect are set to take their oaths.
The poll body proclaimed 52 party-lists that will fill 59 of the 63 House seats allotted to party-list groups in the 20th Congress.
Two groups secured the maximum three seats, three will get two seats each and 47 others are assured one seat each.
See the seat allocation here and the full list of party-list ranking here.
