Comelec cancels Duterte Youth party-list registration

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday cancelled the registration of the Duty to Energize the Republic through the Enlightenment of the Youth Sectoral Party-list Organization, more known as the Duterte Youth Party-list.

In a 25-page decision promulgated Wednesday, the Comelec Second Division granted a 2019 petition that sought to nullify the party-list registration of the Duterte Youth for being void ab initio, or void from the beginning, after the party-list failed to comply with the jurisdictional requirements of publication and hearing.

“Duterte Youth cannot merely hide under the convenient excuse that the Commission had not required it to publish its Petition for registration or that the Commission has not set a hearing, as it reflects poorly on the party's commitment to transparency and accountability,” the ruling read.

The decision added that Duterte Youth “should have demonstrated good faith compliance with the law and the constitution as an earnest performance of its duty to the electorate.”

The Comelec said Duterte Youth committed grounds for cancellation of registration when it fielded overage nominees in 2019. 

“It is true that party-list organizations have the freedom to choose their nominees, often through their own internal mechanisms. However, this freedom is not without limits. While the Court recognizes party autonomy, party-list groups must still operate within statutory framework. Unarguably, Section 9, R.A. 7941 listed the qualifications of party-list nominees, including the highly disputed age qualification of at least 25 but not more than 35 years of age on the day of the election,” the decision said. 

“Thus, when Duterte Youth deliberately accommodated its overaged candidate just a few hours before the 13 May 2019 National and Local Elections, arguing that it has all the freedom to choose whoever it chooses as nominee, its bona fide intent to represent the youth sector becomes clouded with doubt. To stress, it is the nominee who has to qualify in representing the sector, not the other way around. The sector cannot be tailored to fit the nominee's profile,” the poll body added. 

Further, the Second Division ruled the Duterte Youth party-list violated Section 2(3), Rule 2 of Resolution No. 9366 when it used the machinery of the National Youth Commission to promote their candidacy. The party-list likewise “undermined the spirit and intent of the party-list system and put a mockery in the election process” when it withdrew and substituted en masse its nominees in 2019. 

“It is the duty of the Commission to respond when the technicalities of election laws are being exploited and used as tools for manipulation. To find otherwise would be to encourage the abhorrent practice of hunting for loopholes and to keep a blind eye on corruption and abuse of the system,” the ruling said. 

GMA Integrated News has reached out to the Duterte Youth Party-list for comment. 

'Not yet final' 

Meanwhile, poll chief George Erwin Garcia said the decision is not yet final and executory as the party-list may still file a motion for reconsideration (MR) with the Comelec en banc.

“Bagamat yun ang naging decision ng Comelec division, may remedyo ang naturang partylist. Maaari pa rin silang mag-file ng motion for reconsideration upang maresolve yan ng Commission en banc,” Garcia said.

(The partylist may still avail of legal remedies. They can file a motion for reconsideration with the Comelec en banc.)

Rule of law

For their part, petitioners Reeya Beatrice Magtalas, Abigail Aleli Tan, Raainah Punzalan, and Aunell Ross Angcos thanked the Comelec for the decision, saying the “win not only corrects the procedural errors that allowed Duterte Youth to join the party-list elections even when it is not registered, but it also - and more importantly - upholds the rule of law”. 

“It must be recalled that since 2019, Duterte Youth party-list has acted as if it were immune from law, and exempted from accountability,” the petitioners said in a statement. 

“Even this 2025 National Elections, it even admitted, after it was caught, that it used a fake name for its first nominee. This brazen and shameless act is a separate ground for cancellation of their registration had this case not been sustained,” they said. 

The petitioners likewise said they will continue fighting for their case should the party-list file an MR or a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court.

“While we understand that the Duterte Youth Party-list can still file a MR and even elevate it further to the Supreme Court by way of certiorari, but we guarantee that we will be there fighting until its cancellation becomes final and permanent,” they added. —RF, GMA Integrated News