Comelec OKs reso allotting 64 party-list seats in House

House of Representatives. File photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc has approved a resolution increasing the number of party-list seats in the House of Representatives from 63 to 64.

Comelec Chairperson George Erwin Garcia said Wednesday that he had written to the en banc, stressing that the allocation in the lower chamber must be 64 in line with the 1987 Constitution.

READ: Is it 63 or 64? Comelec asks party-list group’s stand on number of seats

“Our colleagues agreed. The commission’s en banc resolution was unanimous,” Garcia told reporters in an interview.

Garcia explained that allotting only 63 seats—less than 20 percent of the total seats in the House—could violate the Constitution. Republic Act 7941, or the Party-list System Act, mandates that party-list representatives should comprise 20 percent of the House members.

He added that raising the allocation to 64 seats would exceed 20 percent, but noted that the law does not prohibit it.

In its manifestation, the Comelec en banc adopted the position of the Supervisory Committee of the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), concurring with Garcia’s opinion that “the 64-seat allocation for party-lists resulting in 20.1258 percent party-list composition of the House of Representatives is significantly more compliant than the 63-seat allocation, which only results in 19.8738 percent composition that is mathematically less than the 20 percent constitutional requirement.”

Garcia explained that the Supervisory Committee provides guidance to the Comelec en banc, which sits as the NBOC. The NBOC is tasked with proclaiming national candidates.

Garcia added that the Comelec en banc authorized him to consult the House on whether it would allow the poll body to implement the decision.

According to Garcia, the Comelec received a response from the House’s secretary-general, stating that the lower chamber has only the ministerial duty to accept certificates of proclamation.

“The House of Representatives told us that this is under the absolute discretion of the Comelec,” he added.

With this, Garcia said the poll body’s law department and the Supervisory Committee have been tasked to study who will be proclaimed to occupy the 64th seat, as well as the three seats of the Duterte Youth Party-list should its registration cancellation become final and executory.

READ: Comelec en banc upholds ruling canceling Duterte Youth’s registration

On August 29, the Comelec en banc upheld the ruling of its Second Division canceling the Duterte Youth Party-list’s registration for lack of publication and hearing of its accreditation, as required by both the Constitution and the poll body.

The party-list ranked second in the 2025 midterm elections, garnering 2,338,564 votes and winning three seats in the House of Representatives. However, its proclamation was suspended due to pending cases before the Comelec.

Garcia noted that the ruling will become final and executory 30 days after promulgation if no restraining order is issued by the Supreme Court.

He added that the law department and the Supervisory Committee must complete their study within the same 30-day period, stressing that the Comelec is obliged to implement its ruling once it becomes final and executory./mcm