Comelec cancels Duterte Youth based on 2019 complaint
A division of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday canceled the registration of controversial Duterte Youth party list group for not having undergone the required procedures for its accreditation in 2018.
The Comelec’s Second Division also cited the group for committing prohibited acts under election law including its lack of bona fide intention to represent the youth sector, advocating violence and getting assistance from the government.
The division voted 2-1 on the petition of former youth activists Reeya Beatrice Magtalas, Abigail Aleli Tan, Raainah Punzalan and Aunell Ross Angcos which claimed that Duterte Youth’s registration was void due to the lack of publication and hearing for its accreditation as required by Comelec rules.
Commissioners Nelson Celis and Noli Pipo voted in favor of the resolution while Presiding Commissioner Rey Bulay dissented.
Proclaim other groups
The party list won three seats in the 20th Congress, second only to Akbayan.
If its cancellation is rendered final, the 55th to 57th winning party lists—Gabriela, Abono and Ang Probinsyano—could have one representative each in the incoming Congress.
The division’s resolution may still be appealed, however, through a motion for reconsideration before the Comelec en banc. The commission’s decision will be final and executory within five days unless the aggrieved party elevates the case to the Supreme Court and secures a restraining order.
Women’s group Gabriela and progressive teachers’ coalition ACT Teachers have urged the Comelec en banc to uphold the ruling and proclaim “deserving groups” before June 30.
“We need to ensure that the party list system truly serves the interests of the sectors it says it represents, not the political families that use it for their own benefit,” ACT Rep. Antonio Tinio said. The group was among those proclaimed by the Comelec last May 19.
Gabriela, on the other hand, was expected to lose its seat after ranking only 55th in the polls, just one spot away from the 54 party lists that won in the May 12 polls.
Case background
Duterte Youth’s petition for registration under the party list system was originally dismissed in October 2018 by the Second Division, then composed of different members, due to various defects. The Comelec en banc later reversed the decision the same month, saying the group had substantially complied with the requirements.
After the activists filed their petition, the Second Division set a hearing in December 2019 and required the parties to submit their memorandum.
The case was left undecided for the next years; in the meantime, Duterte Youth won seats in the 2019 and 2022 elections.
Three months before the midterm polls, the petitioners filed an urgent motion to resolve the 2019 case. The Comelec later decided to suspend the proclamation of Duterte Youth.
Dissenting opinion
The division rejected the position of Duterte Youth, which Bulay backed in his dissenting opinion, saying that it was the Comelec’s duty, not the party list applicant’s, to publish petition for registration in two national newspapers and conduct a hearing.
“Groups, organizations or even coalitions seeking public office and representation bear the burden of knowing and adhering to the laws that govern them. Thus, when Duterte Youth applied for registration, it behooves the party list to know the statutory conditions, most particularly, the jurisdictional and constitutional requirements,” the division ruled in its 25-page resolution.
Bulay countered that the Comelec en banc itself approved Duterte Youth’s accreditation without scheduling a hearing and without requiring publication.
The division said the intent behind the jurisdictional requirement of public and hearing “is to afford the public sufficient opportunity to be well-informed of the structure and principles of the party list organization, and to create a forum where the electorate can challenge the qualification, legitimacy and compliance of the organization to constitutional and statutory requirements.” —WITH REPORTS FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING AND GILLIAN VILLANUEVA
