Comelec proclaims 3 more party-list groups as new House members

By Ferdinand Patinio, Philippine News Agency

NEW LAWMAKERS. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) headed by Chairperson George Garcia (6th from left) proclaims three party-list groups as winners in the May 12, 2025 midterm polls at the Comelec Session Hall in Intramuros, Manila on Thursday (Oct. 2, 2025). The newest members of the House of Representatives are Alfred Co delos Santos of the Ang Probinsyano Party-list, Robert Raymund Estrella of Abono, and Arthur Cua Yap of Murang Kuryente (3rd, 4th and 5th from left, respectively). (Photo courtesy of Comelec)

MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc, sitting as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC), proclaimed on Thursday party-list groups Ang Probinsyano, Abono and Murang Kuryente as winners in the May 12, 2025 midterm polls.

In a ceremony held at the Comelec Session Hall in Intramuros, Manila, the NBOC headed by Chairperson George Garcia, proclaimed Alfred Co delos Santos (Ang Probinsyano), Robert Raymund Estrella (Abono) and Arthur Cua Yap (Murang Kuryente) as the newest members of the House of Representatives (HOR).

Garcia noted that the proclamation was held upon the recommendation of the Law Department and Supervisory Group of the NBOC.

Asked how they came up with the computation to give the seats to the three organizations, he said, “We used the latest case of the An Waray vs. Comelec case.”

“So what we did was to go down to the three consistent ones we did with An Waray. When we canceled the accreditation of An Waray, we proclaimed the next one below, which is Akbayan,” the poll body chief added.

Abono garnered 254,474 votes, Ang Probinsyano received 250,886 votes, while Murang Kuryente had 247,754 votes.

The seats allocated to the new members of the lower chamber were the seats garnered by Duterte Youth (Duty to Energize the Republic through the Enlightenment of the Youth Sectoral Party List Organization) Party-list.

However, the registration of the group was cancelled by the poll body on Wednesday due to its failure to comply with the publication and hearing requirements, which are jurisdictional in nature.

An Waray’s registration as a party-list organization was canceled last year. In its place, the Comelec proclaimed the Akbayan Citizens Action Party (Akbayan) as among the winning party-list groups during the May 2022 polls.