Suspension of Duterte Youth party-list’s proclamation sought

The counsel for petitioners seeking the cancellation of the Duterte Youth's registration on Sunday urged that the party-list's proclamation be suspended until the petition is resolved.

In their original petition filed in 2019, Reeya Beatrice Magtalas, Abigail Aleli Tan, Raainah Punzalan, and Aunell Ross Angcos said the Duterte Youth's registration is void ab initio (invalid from the beginning), on the grounds that it had not complied with publication and public hearing requirements.

Ducielle Cardema was sworn in as the party-list's representative in 2020. She was succeeded by the current representative, Drixie Mae Cardema, after the party-list won again in 2022.

In March, the petitioners raised the issue again, urging the Commission on Elections to resolve the petition.

Now, the petitioners have once more "formally sought" the suspension of the party-list's proclamation after Eleksyon 2025, according to their lawyer Emil Marañon III of Trojillo Ansaldo Marañon Law Office.

"It must be recalled that in SPA No. 19-009 (DC), the petitioners raised the fact that per Comelec's own record, it appears that Duterte Youth Party-List is not even a registered party-list group, hence, should not have been allowed to run in the first place," the counsel's statement read.

"That as of the date of this filing, the instant case has been unresolved for more than five (5) years."

GMA News Online has reached out to the Duterte Youth party-list for comment and will publish it as soon at it becomes available.

The winning party-lists will be proclaimed by the Comelec on Monday. The Duterte Youth received the second most votes in the partylist race behind Akbayan, and will send three representatives to the House.

On Monday morning, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia said two winning party-list groups will not be proclaimed due to pending cases. He did not name the party-list groups but said they won three and one seats, respectively. —with a report from Llanesca Panti/BM/AOL, GMA Integrated News

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