EVEN as the Duterte Youth party-list announced its intention to appeal its disqualification before the Supreme Court, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Wednesday, September 3, 2025, proceeded with preparations to determine who would take their place in Congress should the cancellation of their registration become final and executory.
In an interview, Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they have directed the Law Department and the Supervisory Committee of the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) to assess potential scenarios of having Duterte Youth disqualified.
"May pagkakataon kami pagaralan na mabuti ang implication ng decision. Sino dapat pauupuin? Sa mga nasa taas ba or nasa baba?" said Garcia.
(We have the opportunity to carefully study the implications of the decision. Who should be seated? Those at the top or those at the bottom?)
"Yan ay aming in-endorse sa Law Department at Supervisory Group upang bigyan kami ng gabay kung ano tamang gawin ng Comelec en banc. Pagtapos nito ay tatalakayin namin sino tamang poproklama," he added.
(We endorsed this to the Law Department and Supervisory Group to guide us on the proper course of action for the Comelec en banc. After that, we will discuss who should be properly proclaimed.)
The poll chief said they want to come out with a decision right before the Comelec's decision to cancel the registration of Duterte Youth party-list becomes final and executory.
"Dapat na habulin sapagkat ayaw natin lumampas ang 30 days ng walang aksyon ang commission. Ayaw natin na magkaroon ng vacuum sa House of Representatives," said Garcia.
(This must be pursued because we don’t want the commission to go beyond 30 days without taking action. We want to avoid a vacancy in the House of Representatives.)
He also reiterated that they will give judicial courtesy to the Supreme Court in the event that Duterte Youth appeals their case.
"Habang hindi pa pinal ang desisyon ng Comelec, pwedeng mag-exercise ng jurisdiction ang Korte Suprema sa remedyong hinihingi ng naturang party-list... magandang mahintay din po 'yan," said Garcia.
(While Comelec’s decision is not yet final, the Supreme Court can exercise jurisdiction over the remedy sought by the party-list… it’s also good to wait for that.)
Last week, in a vote of 5-1-1, the Comelec en banc affirmed the cancellation of the registration of the Duterte Youth party-list.
64th party-list seat
Aside from the possible scenarios involving Duterte Youth, the commission has also decided to allocate a 64th party-list seat in the 20th Congress.
Garcia said they have decided to have an additional party-list seat allocation beyond the 63 seats allocated during the May 2025 polls.
"Napagaralan namin na dapat 64 seats sa House of Representatives ang party-list. Aprubado ng Comelec en banc pero kailangan kunsultahin ang House of Representatives," said Garcia.
(We studied that the party-list should have 64 seats in the House of Representatives. It was approved by the Comelec en banc, but the House of Representatives still needs to be consulted.)
"Ang sabi ng House of Representatives, ito ay absolute discretion ng Comelec," he added.
(The House of Representatives said that this is at the absolute discretion of Comelec.)
In its resolution, the commission explained that the 1987 Constitution provides that 20 percent of the composition of the House of Representatives must be party-list members.
"The 64 seat-allocation for party-lists resulting in 20.1258 percent party-list composition of the House of Representatives is significantly more compliant than the 63 seat-allocation, which only results to 19.8738 percent composition, which is mathematically less than the 20% constitutional requirement," said the Comelec.
Given the predicament, Garcia said they have already asked the Comelec-Law Department and the Supervisory Committee of the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) to make a recommendation on who should be proclaimed for the 64th party-list seat.
"Tinanong natin sa Law Department at Supervisory Group, sino ang pang-64 na seat na makikinabang kung sakaling magpoproklama kami ng 64th," said Garcia.
(We asked the Law Department and Supervisory Group who would benefit from the 64th seat if we were to proclaim the 64th.)
During the May 2025 polls, a total of 63 party-list seats were up for grabs. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)