THE Duterte Youth party-list group yesterday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from enforcing its decision canceling its registration.
In a 34-page petition filed late Wednesday afternoon, the group, through its counsel Khristian Calabia, said the speedy intervention by the SC is needed to prevent the poll body from enforcing its decision.
The Comelec en banc last week junked Duterte Youth’s motion for reconsideration due to lack of merit.
“This Petition respectfully seeks urgent relief from the Comelec’s assailed resolutions in cancelling the Duterte Youth’s party-list registration as a party-list organization, effectively causing material and substantial invasion of both the Petitioner and the sovereign will of the people, more than 2.3 million Filipinos, to be chosen by their chosen representative in the 20th Congress” the petition read.
“The Honorable Supreme Court’s prompt and speedy judicial intervention is of utmost importance to prevent the case from becoming moot and in continuously causing injury to the Petitioner and to millions of Filipino who elected it,” it added.
The group, aside from asking the SC to issue a temporary restraining order against the Comelec, also asked the High Court to issue a a writ of preliminary injunction and order a status quo prior to the promulgations of the assailed Comelec resolutions issued on June 18 and August 29, 2025.
The June 18 resolution suspended the proclamation of Duterte Youth as among the winners in the party-list race in the May 12 elections, while the August 29 resolution cancelled its registration.
The petitioner accused the Comelec of committing grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in cancelling the group’s registration as a party-list organization.
Comelec chairperson George Garcia has earlier directed its law department to study its options should the SC uphold their decision against the Duterte Youth.
Garcia said the Comelec en banc’s decision will become final and executory within 30 days if no TRO is issued by the SC.
Calabia said they are confident of winning the SC nod regarding the petition.
“We are very confident in our case. All our arguments are strong and contained in the petition,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Comelec yesterday said it will allocate one additional party-list seat in the House of Representatives to increase its total to 64 seats in the 20th Congress.
In an interview, Garcia said the poll body en banc has approved his recommendation to open another seat for party-list groups aside from the 63 seats allocated during the May 2025 polls.
“We have determined that there should be 64 party-list seats in the House of Representatives. The Comelec en banc approved it but the House of Representatives must still be consulted,” he said.
“When we did, the House said that this is the absolute discretion of the Comelec… the en banc was able to determine that instead of 63 seats, it should be 64 seats,” he added.
In its resolution, the Commission explained that the 1987 Constitution provides that 20 percent of the composition of the House of Representatives must be party-list members.
“The 64 seat-allocation for party-lists resulting in 20.1258% party-list composition of the House of Representatives is significantly more compliant than the 63 seat-allocation, which only results to 19.8738% composition, which is mathematically less than the 20% constitutional requirement,” said the Comelec.
Garcia said they have already asked the Comelec – Law Department and the Supervisory Committee of the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) to make a recommendation on who should be proclaimed for the 64th party-list seat.
Aside from the 64th seat, the Comelec en banc has also directed the Law Department and the Supervisory Committee to assess the scenarios in the event that the cancellation of the registration of Duterte Youth party-list becomes final and executory.
Garcia said they have given the two panels less than 30 days to come up with a recommendation on which party-list group should be proclaimed to replace the Duterte Youth and the three seats allocated to it.
“We have an opportunity to carefully study the implications of the decision. Who should be proclaimed and seated? Should they be those at the top or those at the bottom?” said Garcia.
“This is what we have endorsed to the Law Department and Supervisory Committee, for them to give us guidance on what the Comelec en banc should do. After that, we will discuss who will be the right ones to proclaim,” he said. – With Gerard Naval