Proclaim Akbayan as winner in 2022 polls, Comelec urged

THE Akbayan party-list group yesterday urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to proclaim them as among the winning party-list organizations in the May 2022 polls.

In a statement, Akbayan said it is imperative for the Comelec to proclaim their party now that the SC has affirmed the cancellation of An Waray’s registration as a party-list organization.

“With the High Court’s ruling, a party-list seat is now vacated and rightly belongs to Akbayan, which currently ranked 57th, just one place shy of the list of 56 winning groups in the 2022 elections,” said Akbayan president Rafaela David.

“The next logical and legal step is for the Comelec to proclaim Akbayan as the rightful holder of the last available seat,” she said.

David said their immediate proclamation is necessary considering that the congressional term at stake is nearing expiration.

“Every day Akbayan remains unseated undermines our electoral democracy and denies marginalized sectors the representation they urgently need,” she stressed.

Voting 14-1, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the decision of the Comelec to cancel An Waray’s registration as a party-list group.

This after An Waray nominee, Victoria Isabel Noel, was found to have illegally assumed office as second representative of the party-list in the 16th Congress sans a Certificate of Proclamation issued after the 2013 polls.

In response to the call of Akbayan, Comelec chairman George Garcia said the poll body is just waiting for a copy of the SC ruling.

“It will come any moment from now… We will surely act fast,” said Garcia in a phone interview.

During the May 2022 polls, An Waray ranked 27th in the party-list race after getting 385,460 votes. On the other hand, Akbayan ranked 57th after accumulating 236,226 votes.

Meanwhile, Elections chairman George Garcia welcomed the move of election lawyer Romulo Macalinal questioning before the Supreme Court (SC) the poll body’s rule on appointed public officials who will run as nominees of party-list groups in the forthcoming May 2025 polls.

In a phone interview, Garcia said they have no problem with the decision of Macalintal to seek the nullification of Section 11, Rule II of Comelec Resolution No.