Winners of 59 seats in party-list race announced

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) last night announced the winners of 59 seats  in the House of Representatives in the May 9 party-list race.

The Comelec proclaimed 46 winning party-list groups and announced the distribution of the 59 party-list seats.

Ako Bicol Political Party, which polled 1,664,975 votes out of the 32,377,841 party-list canvassed votes, got three seats.

Securing two seats each were Gabriela, 1Pacman, Act Teachers, Senior Citizens, Kabayan, Agri, PBA, Buhay, Abono, Anak Mindanao and Coop-Natcco.

Akbayan, Bayan Muna, Agap, An Waray, Cibac, Aambis-Owa, Kalinga, A Teacher Inc., Yacap, Diwa, TUCP, Abang Lingkod, LPGMA, Alona, 1-Sagip, Butil, Acts-OFW, Anakpawis, Ang Kabuhayan, Angkla, Mata, 1-Care, Anac-IP, ABS, Kabataan, Bagong Henerasyon, Aasenso, SBP, Magdalo, 1-Ang Edukasyon, Manila Teachers, Kusug Tausug, Aangat Tayo and Agbiag! won one seat each.

The winners, however, were not yet given certificates of nomination because several party-list nominees were withdrawing or substituting other nominees, the Comelec said, adding that the matter would be discussed by the full commission next week.

The Comelec also said it did not include in its tabulation the 1,211 remaining votes not yet received by the consolidation and canvassing system of the national board of canvassers (NBOC).

An Waray proposal

Comelec Chair Andres Bautista said the votes would not materially affect the party-list allocation.

Earlier, An Waray urged the Comelec, sitting as the NBOC, to adopt a different formula to determine the number of seats to be allocated to winning groups.

Several party-list groups opposed the proposal, saying An Waray merely wanted to increase its seats in the House by pushing for a new formula.

An Waray had also filed a petition for the partial suspension of Thursday’s proclamation of winners, but this was denied by the full Comelec for lack of merit.

A party-list must get at least 2 percent of the total votes cast in order to win one seat. Others may get more than one seat if the percentage of votes they get reaches 4 percent.

Carpio formula

The new formula proposed by An Waray was to divide the total number of votes cast in the party-list system by the votes obtained by the party-list group.

In a 2009 decision, Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio laid down a three-stage formula for determining how many seats should be allocated to winning party-list groups.

In the first stage, the first seat is given to parties that obtained a minimum of 2 percent of the total votes cast in a party-list election.

In the second stage, the parties get one additional seat or two seats based on the allocation of the remaining seats.

The maximum seats a party-list can win is three.

The process goes on to a third stage if there are still seats left from the party-list quota of 20 percent of all the seats in the House.