The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has formally proclaimed Akbayan as one of the winners in the 2022 party-list race with Percival Cendaña securing the vacant seat in the House of Representatives.
Comelec made the proclamation after the Supreme Court (SC) affirmed the 2023 ruling of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that nullified the registration of An Waray as a Party-List organization.
“We, the Chairman and Commissioners of the Commission on Elections, sitting En Banc as the National Board of Canvassers for the Party-List System in the Automated National and Local Elections of May 9, 2022, do hereby proclaim Akbayan Citizens Action party (Akbayan) as having obtained the required percentage of votes under the party-list system of representation to entitle its qualified nominee namely: Percival V. Cendaña,” the Comelec said.
With this, the poll body said he will sit as a representative of the House for a term ending on June 30, 2025, in accordance with Section 7, Article VI of the Constitution.
In a full court decision written by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa, the SC dismissed the petition filed by An Waray Party-List through Florencio Gabriel “Bem” Noel and Victoria Isabel Noel.
In August 2023, Comelec denied the Motion for Reconsideration filed by An Waray party-list in relation to the decision of the Second Division to cancel the party-list's registration.
In a 28-page resolution issued by Comelec, promulgated on Aug. 14, the Commission En Banc resolved to deny the MR for "utter lack of merit".
Dismissing the petition, the SC ruled that under the Constitution and the Party-List System Act, it is the Comelec that has exclusive jurisdiction on the cases involving cancellation of party-list registrations.