MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court on Tuesday, July 23, voted unanimously to reverse the disqualification from the party list of the Coalition of Associations of Senior Citizens in the Philippines (Senior Citizens).

The SC said the ground cited by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in disqualifying the group last May – Senior Citizens allowing one nominee to replace another midway in the 3-year term –  was never implemented.

Thus, Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion, the High Court said.

READ: Senior Citizens disqualified but winning

Senior Citizens will now join 36 other party-list groups already in the 16th Congress.

READ: Congress opens with 8 empty party-list seats

The SC ordered Comelec to proclaim Senior Citizens’ nominees. The Comelec, however, will determine the number of seats to be given to Senior Citizens.

Based on the 10th canvass report, which has been used by Comelec as basis for proclaiming earlier winners, Senior Citizens received 677,642 votes.

It got 2.38% of total party-list votes, ranking it 10th overall in the May 13 elections. This means it may get two seats in the Lower House. – Rappler.com


Rocking chairs image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons