Gabriela calls for ‘forthwith’ Duterte Youth DQ, own proclamation

Gabriela party-list Rep. Sarah Elago answers questions during a press conference on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. — Photo by Renz Palalimpa

MANILA, Philippines — Gabriela party-list first nominee Sarah Elago called on the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to disqualify the Duterte Youth party-list “forthwith” and proclaim the women’s alliance into the House of Representatives.

“We hope that [the case] would be acted with urgency and necessity because the Constitution says the members of the party-list of the House should be 20 percent. So there should be no blanks — that Gabriela Women’s Party should be proclaimed immediately,” she told the Inquirer on the sidelines of a press conference in Quezon City.

READ: Comelec pressed to decide on Duterte Youth DQ; proclaim Gabriela 

Duterte Youth ranked second in the 2025 party list races and would have secured three seats in the lower House, but Comelec suspended their proclamation due to a pending case relating to issues of failure to publish party list accreditation. The case is now elevated to Comelec en banc.

Meanwhile, Gabriela failed to make the cut of the winning party lists at the 55th rank. But former social welfare secretary Judy Taguiwalo, who was also at the forum, said that Gabriela’s chances of entering the House of Representatives were high.

“Because Gabriela is next in line, it has a high chance of entering. But what’s important now is that we disqualify them (Duterte Youth),” she said. /das