Comelec division declares Abante winner of Manila’s 6th district

The national canvassing of midterm poll results resumes Wednesday, the expected day when the partial and official tally will be released. — Inquirer file photo

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Second Division has declared Benny Abante as the duly elected Representative of the Manila City 6th District in the 2025 midterm elections.

This came after the division on Wednesday nullified the certificate of candidacy of Joey Uy, whose proclamation is now deemed “annulled” due to material misrepresentation. The division also ruled that the votes cast for Uy will be considered “stray.”

“Petitioner BIENVENIDO ‘BENNY’ MIRANDO ABANTE JR. is the only qualified candidate who garnered the highest number of votes and is hereby declared as the duly elected Member of the House of Representatives for the Sixth (6th) District of the City of Manila,” the 22-page resolution read.

Abante lost his reelection bid to Uy in a tight race where he got a total of 63,358 votes while the latter garnered a total of 64,746 votes.

However, Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia told reporters in a Viber message that the decision of the Second Division is not yet final.

Material misrepresentation

Abante, in his petition, alleged that Uy is not a natural-born citizen of the Philippines, thereby rendering his congressional candidacy invalid under the Constitution. Article VI, Section 6 of the 1987 Constitution states that “[n]o person shall be a Member of the House of Representatives unless he is a natural-born citizen of the Philippines.”

The Constitution defines natural-born citizens as those who are “citizens of the Philippines from birth without having to perform any act to acquire or perfect their Philippine citizenship.”

In his certificate of candidacy (COC), Uy declared that he is a natural-born citizen and admitted that he was born on March 15, 1962, to a Chinese father, Uy Ho, who acquired Philippine citizenship through naturalization when Joel was five years old, and to a Filipina mother.

The division ruled that Uy is “at most a naturalized citizen, not a natural-born one,” noting that he only acquired his citizenship after his father’s naturalization.

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“Therefore, Respondent’s claim, including his declaration under oath in his COC that he is a natural-born Filipino citizen, are wrong. In effect, he made a false declaration in his COC, which constitutes material misrepresentation under Section 78 of the Omnibus Election Code,” the order reads.

The division then ruled that Uy “is not qualified to run for or hold the position of Member of the House of Representatives, and his proclamation was thus made in violation of the Constitution.”

It also cited a Supreme Court ruling stating that the disqualification of a candidate “retroactively invalidates” their certificate of candidacy, rendering it void from the outset./cb/mcm