Akbayan proclaimed winner in 2022 party-list polls

Commission on Elections. INQUIRER FILES

MANILA, Philippines — The Akbayan Party was proclaimed as one of the winners in the 2022 party-list race, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) announced on Wednesday.

In a resolution, the Comelec said “after due deliberation … it hereby resolves to adopt the herein recommendation of the Law Department to issue a Certificate of Proclamation to Percival V. Cendaña as Akbayan Party-list Representative in the 19th Congress.”

“Let the National Board of Canvassers issue the corresponding Certificate of Proclamation in favor of Akbayan party-list and No. 1 Nominee, Percival V. Cendaña, as member of the House of Representatives,” it added.

Akbayan failed to secure a seat in the House of Representatives in the 2022 elections, ranking 57th from all the party-list groups. It also failed to secure a seat in 2019.

Akbayan urged Comelec to proclaim the party as a winner after the An Waray party-list’s registration was canceled.

READ: Comelec urged to declare Akbayan as 2022 poll winner

In 2013, the National Board of Canvassers canceled the registration of some party-list groups, which led to the adjustment of An Waray’s seats from one to two.

In the same year, the Supreme Court (SC) reversed the Comelec’s decision to cancel the registration of Abang Lingkod party-list and proclamation as one of the winners in the 2013 elections. It resulted in an adjustment in the final allocation of seat distribution, which led to An Waray being entitled to one seat only.

The SC upheld Comelec’s decision to cancel the registration of An Waray as a party-list organization in 2019. This was after Danilo Pornias and Jude Acidre filed a petition to cancel the registration of An Waray, claiming that its second nominee Victoria Isabel Noel took an oath in the 16th Congress despite being entitled to only one seat.

In a statement on Wednesday, Akbayan Party President Rafaela David lauded Comelec “for their swift action in issuing the Certificate of Proclamation to Akbayan acting on Congress’ request to fill in a vacancy in the party-list seats as part of the constitutional mandate to fill in all seats allotted for party-list organizations.”

“[The] victory is not a product of legal technicalities but the result of the hard work of our members, supporters, partners, and allies in bringing our brand of leadership and governance back to Congress,” she added.

READ: Chel Diokno now officially a member of Akbayan Party