Latest news with #Comelec
GMA Network
2 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Comelec disqualifies Anarna as Silang, Cavite mayor
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has disqualified and annulled the proclamation of Alston Kevin Anarna as mayor of Silang, Cavite in Eleksyon 2025. This developed after the poll body en banc granted a motion for reconsideration (MR) filed by former Silang Mayor Ted Carranza, which seeks to reverse a ruling of the Comelec First Division, dismissing the petition for disqualification he lodged against Anarna. Carranza filed the disqualification petition on the grounds of a October 2024 decision of the Ombudsman, dismissing Anarna from public office for grave misconduct and serious dishonesty. It also perpetually disqualified him from holding public office. In his MR, the former mayor prayed for the reversal of the assailed order, explaining he failed to copy furnish the respondent with the copy of the petition due to inadvertence of the firm's newly hired personnel. Carranza also argued the Comelec can motu proprio bar a candidate suffering from perpetual disqualification and delist as a candidate of the May midterm polls. 'To permit a candidate who is administratively disqualified to run for office would render the constitutional and statutory sanctions imposed by the Ombudsman inutile, effectively frustrating the ends of administrative discipline and making a mockery of the electoral process,' the five-page decision reads. 'It bears emphasis that Comelec, as a constitutional commission, is duty-bound to protect the sanctity of elections and ensure that only qualified and eligible individuals are allowed to run for public office,' it added. The Comelec en banc ordered the disqualification and voiding of Anarna's proclamation and directed the votes cast in his favor to be considered as stray. It also instructed the Municipal Board of Canvassers to reconvene and proclaim the winning candidate. 'Gross violation of constitutional right' Lawyer Emil Marañon, legal counsel of Anarna, said their camp will file a petition for certiorari with the Supreme Court (SC) to reverse the decision, which he said is a 'gross violation' of this constitutional right to due process of Anarna. Marañon said their camp allegedly did not receive any notice of the suit, summon, and answer from the Comelec. 'This is of course not only vulgarly illegal, but a gross violation of the constitutional right to due process of Mayor Anarna. In fact, this procedural travesty has never ever happened in the history of the Comelec,' he said. 'That while we are still in the process of studying this case, it appears that the case has been based on the equally erroneous Joint Decision of the Office of the Ombudsman dated October 9, 2024 in the consolidated cases docketed as OMB-C-A-APR-24-0025, OMB-C-A-APR-24-0026 and OMB-C-A-JUN-24-0053 which remains non-final to this day, and still pending resolution before the Court of Appeals. Obviously, candidates can be 'disqualified' only on the basis of a final decision,' said Marañon. He added: 'Definitely, we will elevate this case to the Supreme Court by way of a Petition for Certiorari and we are very confident that this will easily be reversed.' — RSJ, GMA Integrated News For more Eleksyon 2025 related content and updates, visit GMA News Online's Eleksyon 2025 microsite.
GMA Network
2 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
House waiting for 5 seats to be filled —SecGen
There are still five seats in the House to be filled after the disqualification of the Duterte Youth Partylist, and the suspension of the proclamation of two congressional winners, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said. Tina Panganiban Perez/GMA Integrated News The House of Representatives is awaiting the final ruling of the Commission on Elections on cases filed against several potential members of the House in the 20th Congress. House Secretary General Reginald Velasco told reporters on Thursday that there are still five seats in the House to be filled after divisions of the Comelec ruled to cancel the Duterte Youth Partylist, which received enough votes for three seats, and suspended the proclamation of winners in Marikina and Benguet. 'Yun na lang hinihintay namin, yung tatlong nominees ng Duterte Youth [That's what we're waiting for the three nominees of Duterte Youth]. And then pending pa rin [still are] two congressional districts. One is in Marikina… And Comelec is resolving this. So, no congressman has been proclaimed yet in the district. The same in the case of Benguet. We're still waiting for Comelec to proclaim the winner. So bale lima pa yung pending [So there are five seats pending],' Velasco said. A Comelec division also ruled to cancel the certificate of candidacy of Luis Chua Uy, who had been proclaimed as the duly elected representative of Manila 6th district. Uy ran against incumbent Representative Bienvenido Abante who filed a petition questioning Uy's citizenship. The Comelec 2nd division ruled Abante is the district's duly elected representative. 'We're waiting for the resolution of Comelec. Kailangan kasi en banc yon [Because it has to be an en banc decision]. The en banc should proclaim the actual winner. And then once we get this proclamation, we can accept Congressman Abante as the duly elected member of Congress in that district,' Velasco said. Velasco also disclosed that the House had already issued Uy a certification that he is a member of the House and a welcome kit. 'Because the only requirements we have, dalawa lang eh [are two]: proclamation from Comelec and oath of office,' Velasco said. He added that both had been done in Uy's case. Velasco also said that the House in the 20th Congress will be composed of 317 members, 96 of whom are neophytes or first termers. The first termers are scheduled to attend an executive course where they will learn, among others, the legislative process and the Rules of the House of Representatives. They have been divided into two batches, with the first batch scheduled to attend on June 23 to 25 while the second batch is scheduled on July 7 to 9. — BM, GMA Integrated News For more Eleksyon 2025 related content and updates, visit GMA News Online's Eleksyon 2025 microsite.
GMA Network
3 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Comelec lifts proclamation suspension vs. Manila councilor
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc on Wednesday lifted the suspension on the proclamation of Darwin Sia, who won a seat in the Sangguniang Panlungsod of the second district of Manila in the 2025 national and local elections (NLE). According to a ruling dated June 18, this is in compliance with a temporary restraining order (TRO) the Supreme Court (SC) issued against the Comelec decision in May. 'In compliance with the TRO issued by the SC on 22 May 2025 enjoining the Commission on Elections from implementing the Resolution of the Commission (Second Division) and the Commission (En Banc) in SPA No. 24-263 (DC) promulgated on 21 March 2025 and 05 May 2025, respectively, the Order of the Commission (En Banc) dated 12 May 2025 insofar as the Respondent Darwin B. Sia is concerned, is hereby lifted, effective immediately,' the ruling reads. 'The City Board of Canvassers of the 2nd District of Manila, are hereby directed to reconvene within five days from the receipt of this Order for the purpose of proceeding with the proclamation of Respondent as a winning candidate for the position of Member, Sangguniang Panglungsod in the 2nd District of the City of Manila,' it added. Sia was disqualified for material misrepresentation when he filed his candidacy despite being convicted of electricity pilferage, which, according to the Comelec, constitutes moral turpitude. Under the Omnibus Election Code, an individual is disqualified to be a candidate for an elective position and to hold any office if such a person has been sentenced by a final judgment for a crime involving moral turpitude. The Comelec en banc upheld the decision to cancel his COC earlier this month. Despite the Comelec's decision, Sia garnered the highest number of votes for councilor in Manila's second district in the May 12 elections. —LDF, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
3 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Comelec continues preparations for BARMM polls
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Wednesday that it will continue with the preparations for the first-ever Bangsamoro parliamentary elections amid the pending decision on the reallocation of seven seats assigned to Sulu. Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said the poll body wrote to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Senate President Chiz Escudero, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, and the Senate and House committees on electoral reforms to inform them that they are preparing for the Bangsamoro polls with 73 parliamentary seats. 'Walang kaduda-duda tuloy na tuloy ang Bangsamoro parliamentary elections bagamat ang pinaghahandaan natin muna sa kasalukuyan ay ang 73 parliamentary seats kasi ang pito ay di pa namin alam ang final na sasabihin ng parliament,' Garcia said. (The BARMM polls will proceed but in the meantime, we're preparing for only 73 seats. We have yet to learn the decision on the seven vacated seats.) 'Baka kasi kapusin kami ng oras sa paghahanda dahil ito ay automated elections,' he said. (We're preparing now because we may not have enough time since this is an automated election.) The Bangsamoro polls was reset from May 12 to October 13, 2025 after Marcos signed into law the measure postponing the elections in February. The suspension came months after the Supreme Court (SC), in September 2024, upheld the validity of the Bangsamoro Organic Law but declared that Sulu was not part of BARMM. The Court denied motions seeking the reversal of the decision in November 2024. The SC ruling necessitated the redistribution of the seven vacated seats originally allocated to Sulu under the Bangsamoro Electoral Code. 'Nakailang sulat tayo pero wala pa tayong natanggap sa kanila pero may mga pag-convey ng mensahe na mukhang kakayanin nila kundi last week ng June, first week ng July yung naturang batas na ating inaasahan,' said Garcia. (We already wrote to them but have yet to receive a response. However, we were told that the resolution may be issued by the last week of June or the first week of July.) According to the Comelec, 109 aspirants have filed their candidacies for district representative seats in the 2025 Bangsamoro polls. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
3 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Comelec cancels Duterte Youth party-list registration
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Wednesday cancelled the registration of the Duty to Energize the Republic through the Enlightenment of the Youth Sectoral Party-list Organization, more known as the Duterte Youth Party-list. In a 25-page decision promulgated Wednesday, the Comelec Second Division granted a 2019 petition that sought to nullify the party-list registration of the Duterte Youth for being void ab initio, or void from the beginning, after the party-list failed to comply with the jurisdictional requirements of publication and hearing. 'Duterte Youth cannot merely hide under the convenient excuse that the Commission had not required it to publish its Petition for registration or that the Commission has not set a hearing, as it reflects poorly on the party's commitment to transparency and accountability,' the ruling read. The decision added that Duterte Youth 'should have demonstrated good faith compliance with the law and the constitution as an earnest performance of its duty to the electorate.' The Comelec said Duterte Youth committed grounds for cancellation of registration when it fielded overage nominees in 2019. 'It is true that party-list organizations have the freedom to choose their nominees, often through their own internal mechanisms. However, this freedom is not without limits. While the Court recognizes party autonomy, party-list groups must still operate within statutory framework. Unarguably, Section 9, R.A. 7941 listed the qualifications of party-list nominees, including the highly disputed age qualification of at least 25 but not more than 35 years of age on the day of the election,' the decision said. 'Thus, when Duterte Youth deliberately accommodated its overaged candidate just a few hours before the 13 May 2019 National and Local Elections, arguing that it has all the freedom to choose whoever it chooses as nominee, its bona fide intent to represent the youth sector becomes clouded with doubt. To stress, it is the nominee who has to qualify in representing the sector, not the other way around. The sector cannot be tailored to fit the nominee's profile,' the poll body added. Further, the Second Division ruled the Duterte Youth party-list violated Section 2(3), Rule 2 of Resolution No. 9366 when it used the machinery of the National Youth Commission to promote their candidacy. The party-list likewise 'undermined the spirit and intent of the party-list system and put a mockery in the election process' when it withdrew and substituted en masse its nominees in 2019. 'It is the duty of the Commission to respond when the technicalities of election laws are being exploited and used as tools for manipulation. To find otherwise would be to encourage the abhorrent practice of hunting for loopholes and to keep a blind eye on corruption and abuse of the system,' the ruling said. GMA Integrated News has reached out to the Duterte Youth Party-list for comment. 'Not yet final' Meanwhile, poll chief George Erwin Garcia said the decision is not yet final and executory as the party-list may still file a motion for reconsideration (MR) with the Comelec en banc. 'Bagamat yun ang naging decision ng Comelec division, may remedyo ang naturang partylist. Maaari pa rin silang mag-file ng motion for reconsideration upang maresolve yan ng Commission en banc,' Garcia said. (The partylist may still avail of legal remedies. They can file a motion for reconsideration with the Comelec en banc.) —RF, GMA Integrated News
