Comelec to ban ‘ayuda’- and ‘teleserye’-sounding party-lists

Comelec Chairman during a press conference on Friday in Manila. Noy Morcoso/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines — Party-list groups with names sounding like “ayuda” or “teleserye” would no longer be allowed to register in the next elections, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chair George Erwin Garcia said on Friday.

Garcia, however, explained that the Comelec could not do anything about the elected party-lists with names sounding like ayuda or teleserye.

“We will no longer allow party-list groups in the next accreditation process to use the names of popular telenovelas, to use the names of ayuda; it is not right,” Garcia said in a press conference in Manila Hotel Tent City.

“We will require them, if they want accreditation, to change the name of their party in accordance with their principle and their platforms,” he added.

“For those who managed to get registered, we can no longer do anything about it because they were already accredited before the present leadership,” he also said.

The Comelec has since released the official vote tally of party-list groups on Thursday.

At least 63 party-list groups are assured of at least one seat in the upcoming 20th Congress. Their proclamation is set at the Manila Hotel Tent City on Monday.

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

Akbayan topped the party-list polls with 2,779,621 votes, according to Comelec’s official tally.

Meanwhile, party-list groups that have lost for two consecutive elections will be delisted and will be required to apply for new accreditation, according to Garcia.

This year’s results were not as good for the Makabayan bloc, as only two of its affiliated party-lists—ACT Teachers (34th, or 0.85 percent with 353,631 votes) and Kabataan (40th, or 0.74 percent with 312,344 votes)—are expected to get seats.

Gabriela ranked 55th with 256,811 votes, or 0.61 percent of the votes cast.

Bayan Muna, which was among the most popular party-lists before the Duterte administration, is at a distant 77th, garnering only 162,894 votes, or 0.39 percent. The group is expected to be delisted by the Comelec and could not participate in the 2028 general elections for failure to secure a seat in the 2022 and 2025 elections./mcm