Explainer: How An-Waray lost its party-list registration

MANILA, Philippines — A party-list group with a seat in the House of Representatives (HoR) has lost its party-list registration.

In a decision promulgated on August 6 but was only released on Monday, September 16, the Supreme Court upheld the Commission on Elections (Comelec) resolution canceling the registration of the An-Waray party-list, a group based in Samar, Leyte and Biliran.

Affirming the poll body’s resolution, the high court said that the Comelec did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it canceled the party list’s registration, citing Republic Act (RA) 7491 or the Party List System Act.

According to the Supreme Court, the party list violated Section 6 (5) of RA 7491. Under the provision, violation of election laws or its rules is a ground for the cancellation of a party-list’s registration. 

During the 2013 elections, An-Waray should only have one seat in the HoR. However, due to some circumstances, its seats increased to two, allowing its second nominee to secure a seat.

An-Waray was among the 14 party-list groups initially declared winners, garnering 541,205 votes.

The National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) then cancelled the registration of certain party-list groups, leading to a reallocation of seats and increasing An-Waray’s representation to two seats.

The resolution included a condition that adjustments could be made based on future proclamations of other party-list groups.

Subsequently, the NBOC issued a Certificate of Proclamation to An Waray, allowing its first nominee, Neil Montejo, to assume a seat in the HoR for the 16th Congress. 

Montejo took his oath on June 26, 2013, while An Waray’s second nominee, Victoria Isabel Noel, took her oath on July 13, 2013, based on the vote tally in the NBOC resolution.

On Oct. 22, 2013, the Supreme Court reversed Comelec’s cancellation of Abang Lingkod’s party-list registration, ordering the party’s proclamation as one of the winners in the 2013 elections.

Following this, on Aug, 20, 2014, Comelec issued a new NBOC resolution finalizing party-list seat distributions based on the Supreme Court’s computation.

In this resolution, An-Waray was allocated only one guaranteed seat.

Jude Acidre, the second