The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Thursday formally proclaimed the first nominees of Abono, Ang Probinsyano, and Murang Kuryente to take over the three party-list seats in the House of Representatives once reserved for Duterte Youth.
Comelec Chairman George Erwin M. Garcia said the proclamation capped the poll body’s monthslong deliberations after Duterte Youth lost its bid to stop the cancellation of its registration.
On September 30, the clerk of the commission issued a Certificate of Finality and Entry of Judgment, affirming that the August en banc decision voiding the group’s registration was final and executory.
‘They will fulfill the three seats supposedly to be awarded to the Duterte Youth after the en banc decision disqualifying them became final and executory,’ Garcia said in a press conference.
Abono’s Robert Raymond Estrella, Ang Probinsyano’s Alfred delos Santos, and Murang Kuryente’s Arthur Yap received their certificates of proclamation after their groups each secured one seat in the May 2025 polls.
Abono garnered 254,474 votes, Ang Probinsyano 250,886 votes, and Murang Kuryente 247,754 votes.
Chairman Garcia said the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) followed the same formula applied in the disqualification of An Waray, where the next party-list in line was proclaimed to fill the vacancy.
‘The decision of the NBOC is based on the recommendation of the Commission’s Law Department and Supervisory Group.At the same time, we also applied Banat vs. Comelec. The Supreme Court said an integer cannot be treated as a person. That’s why we went down to three, consistent with what we did in the An Waray case,’ he explained.
Duterte Youth had won 2.33 million votes, the second-highest tally among party-list groups in the May elections, which would have entitled it to three seats.
But the Comelec en banc declared its registration void ab initio for failure to comply with mandatory requirements of publication and hearing when it first sought accreditation in 2019.
The Supreme Court did not act on its petition for a temporary restraining order within the 30-day period, effectively sealing its disqualification.
Estrella, delos Santos, and Yap will now join the House as party-list representatives for a full three-year term ending June 30, 2028.