Comelec proclaims 59 party-list reps in fastest turnaround time since 2010

THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday proclaimed 59 party-list representatives seven days after the May 12 midterm elections, in the fastest turnaround time since automated polls were fully implemented in the Philippines in 2010.

- By Chloe Mari A. Hufana

Sixty-three seats were initially allotted for party-list members, spread across 53 winning groups, according to the official count posted on the Comelec website. But the proclamation of three seats for Duterte Youth and a seat for Bagong Henerasyon Party-list was suspended due to their pending disqualification lawsuits.

The frontrunner in the party-list race was Akbayan Citizens' Action Party, which got 2.78 million votes or 6.66% of the 41.66 million total votes cast for party-lists.

They will have three seats at the House of Representatives led by their first nominee, human rights lawyer Jose Manuel Tadeo "Chel" I. Diokno.

The group's second nominee is incumbent congressman Percival V. Cendaña, followed by Moro leader Dadah Kiram Ismula.

The group was saved in the 19th Congress after the Supreme Court affirmed the cancellation of the An Waray party-list's registration and proclaimed Akbayan as the winner of the last of the 63 party-list seats in the 2022 elections.

The party was almost delisted after failing to win seats in 2019.

Duterte Youth got 2.37 million votes or 5.59% of the total, allowing it to have three seats in the chamber. The group will be represented by its three nominees — incumbent Drixie Mae S. Cardema, Berlin B. Lingwa and Ron Godfrey W. Bawalan.