Tells SC Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion
THE Duterte Youth party-list group yesterday asked the Supreme Court to overturn the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) halting the group’s proclamation as one of the winning party-lists in the May 12 elections.
The petition for certiorari and prohibition filed by the group’s chairman, Ronald Cardema, also includes an urgent request for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction.
Named as respondent in the petition is the Comelec sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC).
Earlier yesterday, Comelec Chairperson George Garcia said the poll body expected the group to file a petition against the Comelec’s suspension move.
“We expected them to go to the SC. If they didn’t, that would have been a disservice to their legal rights,” he said.
“That is the correct move. That is among the expectations of the Comelec, the NBOC,” he added.
On Monday, the NBOC proclaimed 52 winning party-list organizations and their 59 nominees but suspended that of the Duterte Youth and BH Bagong Henerasyon, pending disqualification cases.
The Comelec yesterday vowed to immediately resolve the pending cases.
GRAVE ABUSE
The petition accused the poll body of grave abuse of discretion in suspending its proclamation despite placing second in the party-list race and securing three seats in the House of Representatives.
“We filed a petition for certiorari and we are asking that an injunction be issued against what the Comelec has done. Why? Because it is our view that the Comelec has committed grave abuse of discretion, considering that they told us of their decision to suspend proclamation only at lunchtime yesterday,” Cardema told reporters in Filipino.
He said if the Comelec informed them last week of its decision, the Duterte Youth could have answered all the allegations raised against the group.
He said the Comelec told them of the suspension only three hours before the proclamation ceremonies.
Garcia earlier said the poll body informed first the party-list groups, and gave them a copy of the NBOC resolution, before it was announced during the proclamation ceremony Monday afternoon.
Cardema explained there was grave abuse of discretion because, it seems, the proclamation of winning party-lists is at the discretion and whims of the poll body, and not the voting public.
“In our country, the holding of elections every three years is proof that democracy is working. The Duterte Youth party-list was voted by more than two million Filipinos,” he said, adding the poll body has no right to disregard the right of those who voted for Duterte Youth.
“Why would Comelec say that because of the 2019 case – they said it is very serious, very grave – it would hold our proclamation. The phony case has been existing since 2019, but we were proclaimed in the 2019 elections. In 2022, it was still existing but we were included in the proclamation,” he said.
Cardema also claimed the petitioners against his group resurfaced the previous cases when they saw Duterte Youth’s ranking in the partial, unofficial count.
Duterte Youth garnered 2,338,564 votes in the recently concluded mid-term polls, coming second only to Akbayan.
Their dominant finish gave the group three seats in the incoming 20th Congress.
The group urged the SC to “declare unconstitutional” the decision of the Comelec to halt their proclamation as one of the winning party-lists and to issue a mandatory preliminary writ of injunction to proclaim the group.
Cardema earlier threatened to disclose alleged corruption in government if the poll body sustained its suspension of his group’ proclamation.
BEFORE BY JUNE 30
Garcia, in an interview, said the Comelec is committed to resolve the cases of the Duterte Youth and BH Bagong Henerasyon before June 30, the day the newly-elected officials are set to assume their posts.
“We want all questions and doubts to be gone once they assume their posts come June 30,” he said.
In case the ruling comes out in their favor, Garcia said, “We will still have their proclamation separately with the entire NBOC present to proclaim them.”
He stressed that suspending the proclamation is better than proclaiming and revoking the proclamation later when the rulings do not favor the groups.
“It would be more painful if we already proclaimed them but we would have to eventually cancel their proclamation,” said Garcia.
MOCKERY
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) party-list slammed the “mockery” of the party-list system by politicians and the elite while reaffirming the group’s commitment to “genuine representation of marginalized sectors despite the corrupted electoral system.”
“What we witnessed in the recent elections was a mockery of democracy,” said outgoing Rep. France Castro, who lost her senatorial bid. “The party-list system, originally designed to give voice to the marginalized, has been thoroughly corrupted by political dynasties and big business interests who used government resources and programs to buy votes and manipulate results.”
From the militant Makabayan bloc, only ACT and Kabataan won – a seat each.
“What happened in the recently concluded elections is an outright deception of the Filipino people. Progressive party-list groups were disadvantaged through red-tagging, harassment and the use of government machinery to stop the true representations of the marginalized sectors,” Castro said in Filipino.
Incoming ACT party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, a returning lawmaker, said the electoral system “has become a tool for elite consolidation rather than democratic representation.”
“The automated election system once again failed the Filipino people, with numerous reports of irregularities, machine errors, and technical glitches that raise serious concerns about the integrity of the entire process,” Tinio said. “This flawed system was used to further marginalize the progressive bloc and deny genuine representation to the people.”
Tinio said the party-list system has been used by the powerful to perpetuate themselves in power “and stop real change.”
“But they can’t stop the voices of the people who want genuine representation,” he said in Filipino.
2013 SC DECISION
Critics have long been denouncing what they called the “bastardization” of the party-list system, blaming the Supreme Court for allowing party-list nominees who do not come from the marginalized sector to sit in Congress.
The High Court, in a 2013 decision, ruled that Republic Act No. 7941 or the Party-list System Act of 1995, does not require national and regional parties or organizations to represent the “marginalized and underrepresented sectors.”
“To require all national and regional parties under the party-list system to represent the ‘marginalized and underrepresented’ is to deprive and exclude, by judicial fiat, ideology-based and cause-oriented parties from the party-list system,” it said.
“There is no requirement in RA 7941 that a national or regional political party must represent a ‘marginalized and underrepresented sector.’ It is sufficient that the political party consists of citizens who advocate the same ideology or platform, or the same governance principles and policies regardless of their economic status as citizens,” the justices said.
Castro and Tinio vowed to continue working for their advocacies “despite the challenges posed by a corrupted political system.”
The militant lawmakers said they will have to continue the fight to address the “broader societal problems facing the Philippines, particularly the crisis in education that reflects the deeper inequalities in Philippine society.”
“Our education crisis is a manifestation of the broader crisis of our society — where basic services are neglected while the elite accumulate more wealth and power,” Castro said, adding that ACT will push for a P50,000 entry-level salary for teachers “not just as a sectoral demand but as part of a larger struggle for economic justice and equitable distribution of resources.”
Tinio cited need to increase the education budget to six percent of the country’s GDP as recommended by UNESCO, linking it to the broader fight against graft and corruption and misplaced priorities in government spending.
“While billions are wasted on corruption and militarization, our education system remains severely underfunded at less than three percent of GDP,” Tinio said. “Increasing this to the UNESCO-recommended six percent is crucial not just for addressing the learning crisis but for building a society that truly values human development over elite interests.” – With Wendell Vigilia