DESPITE being split, the administration party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino—Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) was declared by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as dominant majority party and the Nacionalista Party (NP) as dominant minority party for the May 9 polls.
The dominant majority party will be entitled to the fifth copy of election returns (ERs), and seventh copy of the certificates of canvass (COCs) while the dominant minority party will be entitled to the sixth copy of the ERs and eighth of COCs.
The first to fourth copies of ERs and the first to sixth COC copies will go to the Comelec, the board of canvassers, Congress and the citizens’ arm.
The ninth to 18th copies of ERs and COCs will be given to 10 major political parties, while the 19th and 20th copies will be provided to two accredited major local parties.
“The watchers of the dominant majority party and dominant minority party shall be given preference, if the space in the canvassing/consolidation center is insufficient,” said the Comelec in Resolution No. 10787 dated May 4.
The resolution listed the 10 major political parties — Liberal Party (LP), Aksyon Demokratiko (Aksyon), Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), Partido para sa Demokratikong Reporma (PDR), National Unity Party (NUP), Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP), Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), Akbayan Citizens Action Party (Akbayan), and United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
Five of the parties are affiliated with the UniTeam of presidential aspirant Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and vice presidential candidate Sara Duterte-Carpio, namely, Lakas-CMD, PFP, NUP, NP and PDP-Laban.
The poll body’s decision comes despite the unresolved petitions filed by two wings of the PDP-Laban.
The factions of led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III last year filed petitions for accreditation as dominant party.
“Pending resolution of the petition filed by Cusi wing of the PDP-Laban, the PDP-Laban shall be treated as one single political party for purposes of determining the dominant majority party, dominant minority party, and the 10 major national party,” said the Comelec.
The poll body said PDP-Laban was declared the dominant majority party for having the highest general weight average points with 37.64. The NP, meanwhile, came in second with a general weight average points of 34.67 to become the dominant minority party.
The criteria used in computing the general weight average points are history of the parties, number of incumbents, number of organized chapters, number of candidates, and number of female bets.
The PDP-Laban Cusi wing welcome the Comelec’s decision and vowed to do its best to help keep the elections clean and orderly. — With Jocelyn Montemayor
