Comelec suspends proclamation of two winning party-list groups

May 20 ------ The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has suspended the May 19 proclamation of two party-list groups who won seats in the House of Representatives in the 2025 midterm polls due to pending cases, Chairman George Garcia said. 

Garcia said that Comelec, sitting as National Board of Canvassers, made the decision to resolve the pending cases against the two party-list groups first since they have enough time to do so given that the term of newly-elected officials would start on June 30 or more than a month from now. “We have two party-list groups who won’t be proclaimed winners [today as scheduled]. The Comelec decided to suspend the proclamation due to pending cases [against these [party-list groups], not because of the motion or manifestation seeking to suspend the proclamation,” Garcia told reporters. 

He did not name the two party-list groups, which won three and one seats, respectively, but said the suspension of their proclamation does not nullify their win. “Hindi po nangangahulugan na hindi makakasama sa proclamation ay hindi na nanalo. Nanalo po sila. Kaya po pinagpaliban muna [ang proklamasyon] bilang pag-respeto sa proseso rin. Kasi kahit po iproklama ng National Board [of Canvassers] ang party-list, pwede pa rin naman po namin desisyunan ‘yung kaso bago mag-June 30 dahil nga po magiging congressman lang po ang lahat ng mapoproklama ngayon sa June 30. Mas maganda po na i-resolve muna natin iyong kaso para hindi po masayang iyong proklamasyon,” Garcia added. 

Likewise, Garcia said there are 63 House seats for party-list representatives which is 20% of the House members in accordance with the Constitution. The 63 seats, Garcia said, will be occupied by representatives from 54 party-list groups since three party-list groups will have three representatives each, and another three party-list groups with two representatives each since they exceeded the initial threshold of 2% of the votes cast for the party-list race as provided by law and the Supreme Court decision on Banat v. Comelec case. The rest of the winning party-list groups will get one seat each to fill out all the 63 seats available. 

Source: gmanetwork.com