ELECTIONS Commissioner Rowena Guanzon yesterday said there will be no Certificate of Proclamation (COP) that will be issued to the Duterte Youth party-list group until the end of the year.
“Comelec en banc did not act on Ducielle Cardema’s repeated requests for a Certificate of Proclamation,” Guanzon said in her Twitter account (@commrguanzon).
Asked if there is still a possibility that the poll body will act on it later this month, the official answered in the negative.
“There is no chance, definitely,” Guanzon said in a separate interview.
The statement comes despite the issuance of House Resolution No. 552urging the poll body to already resolve the pending cases involving Duterte Youth, pointing out that it has been six months since the May 2019 elections but the Comelec remains unable to resolve the cases involving the last vacant party-list seat.
Guanzon said the absence of an en banc action is due to the continued pendency of the petition filed against Duterte Youth at the Comelec Second Division.
The Comelec Second Division has set on Wednesday, December 18, the hearing on the “Petition to Cancel Party-List Registration and/or to Declare Nullity of its Registration” filed versus Duterte Youth.
In their 22-page petition, petitioners Reeya Magtalas, Abigail Tan, Raainah Punzalan, and Aunell Angcos said it is imperative for the Comelec to either nullify or cancel the registration of Duterte Youth as a party-list group due to the numerous violations it has committed.
Back in the May 2019 polls, the Duterte Youth party-list got 347,297 votes that earn them one seat in the House of Representatives.