ELECTIONS chairman George Garcia yesterday said nominees of Duterte Youth party-list cannot assume their seats at the House of Representatives on June 30.
Duterte Youth received 2,338,564 votes in the May 12 midterm polls. It is entitled to three seats in the lower house.
Garcia said Duterte Youth nominees cannot assume their posts yet because the group has yet to be proclaimed after the poll body deferred its declaration as winner pending the resolution of all disqualification petitions filed against it.
Proclamation is the first of three requirements before any winning candidate can serve his or her post. After proclamation, the candidate needs to take his or her oath of office before he or she can assume office on June 30.
“Come June 30 and the Comelec has no final decision yet or has yet to order the lifting of the suspension of proclamation, it seems nobody can assume the posts for that party-list group,” Garcia said.
The Comelec Second Division on Wednesday cancelled Duterte Youth’s party-list registration, saying that it failed to meet the requirement to publish in two national newspapers of general circulation a copy of its registration petition, its manifestation of intent to participate, and its list of nominees and certificate of nomination, among others.
It likewise said the group mocked the electoral process when it nominated Ronald Cardema during despite being overaged as a youth sector representative, and for repeatedly switching the names of its party-list nominees during the 2019 elections.
Garcia has said the decision is not yet final and executory as the group may still appeal the ruling before the Comelec en banc.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Rey Bulay has come to the defense of the Duterte Youth party-list, saying that it was able to comply with the rules and policies of the poll body. His position is the lone dissenting opinion to the Second Division ruling.
In his nine-page dissenting opinion, Bulay, who is the presiding commissioner of the Second Division, contradicted the majority decision and said that it is the Comelec’s duty, not the party-list group, to make the publication of the petitions for registration of party-list organizations as provided under existing laws and rules.
“It is clear that the Comelec bears responsibility for fulfilling its procedural mandates under RA No. 7941. It goes without saying that, for the corresponding procedural duties of the Comelec under Resolution No. 9366, the obligation to comply thereto cannot be shifted to the petitioner,” he said.
He also said Duterte Youth cannot be faulted over the findings that Cardema was overaged as a youth sector representative back in the 2019 polls.
“The disqualification is personal to Mr. Cardema and does not automatically establish any culpability on Respondent,” he said.
As to the repeated withdrawal and substitution of nominees made by the group, Bulay said such acts are not illegal and unlawfully made.
“There was no evidence showing that the substitutions were not done in accordance with Comelec rules and deadlines. Absent evidence clearly showing deliberate intent to mock the electoral process, Respondent’s compliance with the applicable law and the rules cannot constitute mockery or bring the electoral process into disrepute,” he said.
