黑料社

MANILA, Philippines 鈥� While both the unofficial, and partial and official tallies of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) have provided voters a glimpse of who will get party-list seats, there is still confusion as to who can get posts in the House of Representatives.

Acting Comelec spokesperson John Rex聽Laudiangco explained to ABS-CBN Teleradyo鈥檚 On the Spot on Friday that 63 seats are up for grabs for party-list groups, with groups getting at least two percent of the votes allowed to get one seat in Congress.

However, as only a few groups got two percent of the total votes like in previous elections, Laudiangco said that other seats would be provided to the groups in two rounds 鈥� in accordance with the Supreme Court (SC) formula on the issue.

鈥淎ng una po kasing pagtataya kung sino ang makaka-okupa ng 63 party-list seats 鈥� nakalagay po 鈥榶an sa batas, nakalagay po 鈥榶an sa formula ng Supreme Court 鈥� kukunin muna 鈥榶ong total number of party-list votes.聽 So lahat po ng boto ng party-list groups ay susumahin,鈥� Laudiangco said.

鈥淎fter that, the first step po, we will determine sino-sino ang naka-kuha ng two percent.聽 Lahat po ng naka-kuha ng two percent automatic po may tig-iisang seat, ang tawag po dito ay guaranteed seats,鈥� he added.

To ensure that the 63 party-list seats are filled up 鈥� still as per the SC ruling 鈥� the remaining seats will be distributed depending on how many votes a group got.

鈥淪o i-apply po natin 鈥榶ong formula na dinivide ng Supreme Court.聽 Medyo complicated po ito mathematically pero let鈥檚 break it down.聽 Ang nangyayari po kasi titignan 鈥榶ong mga butal pa, inawas na natin 鈥榶ong two percent ano.聽 So may mga butal-butal pa po 鈥榶an mula sa pinaka-maraming nakuha hanggang do鈥檔 sa pinaka-maliit ang nakuha,鈥� Laudiangco noted.

鈥淢agiging proportion ang distribution sa remaining seats.聽 So 鈥榶ong mas malaki ang nakuha, mula sa taas hanggang sa huli, madagdagan po sila.聽 So most likely 鈥榶ong topnatcher, lagi namang ganito, nakaka-tatlong seats po sila,鈥� he added.

Laudiangco also mentioned that most of the time, the party-list group with the last seat gets around 200,000 to 300,000 votes.

As of now, in the partial and unofficial tally of Comelec, ACT-CIS still leads with 2.082 million votes, accounting to four percent of ballots counted.聽 Next is 1-Rider with 991,051 votes, and Tingog with 873,231.

Party-list group Pusong Pinoy currently sits at the 50th spot, with 247,459 votes.

On Thursday night, the second report from the Comelec containing the partial and official tally showed ACT-CIS also leading with 1.112 votes, followed by Ako Bicol with 513,403 votes and 1-Rider with 453,712 votes.

READ: ACT-CIS, Ako Bicol, 1-Rider still dominate聽party-list contest聽

Laudiangco explained that all 63 seats should be filled or it will defeat the purpose of providing an avenue for underrepresented sectors.

鈥淧ractically 鈥榶ong four percent or more, three seats po 鈥榶an.聽 And then the remaining po after that, two seats.聽 Meron pa pong third round po d鈥檡an.聽 Kung sakali po na 鈥榶ong mga nando鈥檔 sa taas na-distributan, hindi pa po natin napuno 鈥榶ong 63.聽 Meron pa pong maiiwan po dyan na nasa dulo,鈥� he said.

鈥淪o hanggang sa mapuno po 鈥榶on [鈥�] Kasi ang sabi po ng Korte Suprema kailangang mapuno 鈥榶ong 63 seats dahil ito ay required ng constitution.聽 Kung hindi siya mapupuno it will defeat the purpose of having party-list representatives,鈥� he added.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the party-list system, with no less than outgoing President Rodrigo Duterte advocating for the abolishment of the system which he said has been prone to abuse.

Duterte referred to the progressive organizations in the House of Representatives he believes are helping communist rebels.聽 The groups have denied these accusations.

RELATED STORY:

Duterte to next president: Abolish party-list system聽

Duterte hits abuse of PH party-list system, calls for amendment聽

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