Comelec Commissioner George Garcia. Image from Comelec / Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will proclaim all winning party-list groups Thursday afternoon despite having pending cases, Commissioner George Garcia said Thursday.
Garcia’s remark came after he recently floated the possibility of non-issuance of a certificate of proclamation when a disqualification case is filed against a party.
“But we have precedents and in our precedent that we have been following, even if you have a pending case and based on our determination, the cases are not that meritorious or even if meritorious, we can even still proceed with the proclamation of these candidates or these party-lists with pending cases,” Garcia said on ANC’s Headstart.
Cases against Gabriela and Kabataan party-list groups were filed by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict.
“It is based on our discretion. So, in this case, we exercise our discretion. We will proceed to proclaim these party-list organizations,” he added.
Garcia said that it will be “unfair” not to proclaim the groups just because they have a pending case.
“I think it’s so unfair if simply because you have a pending case na (that is) questioning the qualification or the accreditation of the partylist, that you will not proclaim that party-list,” he said.
“So, in this case, we exercise the discretion in the same manner that under ordinary circumstances, we are likewise proclaiming candidates even with pending disqualification cases with the Commission on Elections simply because first, there was already the mandate of the people. Number two because of the precedent. Number three, what if the cases are really not meritorious?,” he further noted.
The Comelec is set to proclaim the winning party-list groups at 4 p.m Thursday.