Comelec headquarters in Intramuros. INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Two winning party-list groups were absent during the proclamation at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) on Thursday.
The groups who skipped the event are the P3PWD and the An Waray, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner George Garcia told INQUIRER.net.
He, however, noted that their absence at the event has “no effect” on their status.
P3PWD (Komunidad ng Pamilya Pasyente at Persons with Disabilities) ranked 24th in the party-list race with 387,086 votes, earning one seat in the House of Representatives.
An Waray Party list likewise secured a seat in Congress after receiving 385,460 votes, placing at 27th.
The Comelec proclaimed 55 party-lists who got a total of 62 seats.
The 63rd seat remained vacant as the United Senior Citizens, which amassed sufficient votes, has a pending motion for reconsideration for having their accreditation denied.
Despite facing cases filed by the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, Gabriela and Kabataan Party-lists were proclaimed by the Comelec as they are accredited.
“[‘Yung] issue kasi ng [U]nited [Senior Citizens] ay hindi sya accredited. [‘Yung] Gabriela at [K]abataan accredited and we wanted to be consistent with precedent,” Garcia told reporters in a message.
(The issue with the United Senior Citizens is that they are not accredited and we wanted to be consistent with precedent.)
“Otherwise, wala ma-proclaim. Lahat ng [party-list] may mag-file lang ng petition kahit unmeritorious, hindi na i-proclaim,” he added.
(Otherwise, no one will be proclaimed. If all party-lists receive a petition, even if unmeritorious, they will not be proclaimed.)
In the meantime, Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino assessed that the proclamation event “went very well.”
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