THERE could be some changes in the partylist representatives roster come the 19th Congress from those that were proclaimed by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
This was according to Acting Comelec spokesman John Rex Laudiangco, who said they may need to recompute the seat allocation in the event that the United Senior Citizens Party-list is not registered with finality.
"If denied with finality, then their votes become stray, will be taken out of the total partylist votes, and a re-computation will be in order," said Laudiangco in a phone interview.
And once a re-computation is done, he said one possible outcome is that an additional partylist group will be proclaimed.
Another possible scenario, he said, is that a winning partylist group would be given an additional seat.
"All these, of course, will depend on the total number of votes declared stray and the recomputed percentages afterwards," said Laudiangco.
On Thursday, May 26, the Comelec, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), proclaimed 55 partylist organizations with a total of 62 allocated seats for their nominees.
The NBOC, though, opted to withhold the proclamation of the United Senior Citizens Partylist, which had garnered enough votes to obtain one seat allocation, pending the final resolution of its appeal for the denial of its registration.
According to Laudiangco, the Comelec en banc has already denied the motion for reconsideration of the partylist group.
"It will be denied with finality either due to failure to timely file a petition with the Supreme Court or if the SC had ruled with finality sustaining the Comelec’s denial of the MR," said Laudiangco.
He also said it would be a less complicated pathway if the United Senior Citizens Partylist is ordered registered by the SC as a partylist organization.
"If we are reversed by the SC and United Senior Citizens Partylist is granted its registration, similarly with finality, yes, we will proclaim them and their nominee number 1," said Laudiangco. (HDT/SunStar Philippines)