Women’s group Gabriela, Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP), and youth alliance Kabataan Tayo ang Pag-asa (KTAP) held a protest action in front of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) main office on Wednesday, June 25, to push the body into resolving all the pending cases against Duterte Youth Party-list and upholding its disqualification.
Duterte Youth has filed a motion for reconsideration (MR) on Monday, June 23, as a response to the COMELEC 2nd Division’s decision to cancel its partylist registration on June 16.
In response, women’s group Gabriela also submitted a letter directed to Commissioner George Garcia, urging the body to proclaim the GWP in the 20th Congress.
GWP has served in the 13th to 19th Congress, spanning 18 years of service in the House of Representatives. The progressive party list lost its bid in the 2025 midterm elections, ranking 55th in the race. Should the Duterte Youth’s cancellation push through, party-list seats ranked 55th to 57th may have a chance to qualify for a seat in the 20th Congress.
According to Cora Agovida, secretary-general of Gabriela, the COMELEC must quickly resolve the Duterte Youth’s cancellation and proclaim the party list that truly represents the marginalized sector.
“Gabriela has proven itself to be an ally of women within the halls of Congress and even outside. It has its proven track record of serving women in communities. The Comelec must do its part in disqualifying fake partylists like Duterte Youth, who do not represent the truly marginalized,” said Mariz Garcia of Gabriela – National Capital Region.
Meanwhile, youth groups under KTAP stated that Duterte Youth’s cancellation was a step towards defending the integrity of the election system.
“Six years and three elections past, this move is long overdue and only exposes the rottenness of electoral politics in the country. Ushered by the youth’s strong calls, this affirms our long fight for genuine youth representation and clean, honest, and peaceful elections,” said KTAP in its statement.
The youth alliance also underscored that aside from the cancellation of Duterte Youth’s registration, the COMELEC must also urgently resolve the pending cases against the party-list, including election code violations of red-tagging.
KTAP also challenged the body of its mandate to act on the controversies marring the 2025 midterm polls, which involved cases of widespread voting machine failures, vote buying, election-related violence, and disinformation against candidates.
