Party-list reps expected to show up at Comelec raffle today

MANILA, Philippines - Representatives of the 135 party-list groups participating in the midterm elections on May are expected to show up during Friday's raffle, the Commission on Elections said. 

Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said the poll body will raffle off on Friday the order of the party-list organizations' listing in the ballots.

Sarmiento said that of the figures, 84 have been allowed by the Comelec to run while 51 partylist groups have secured a status quo ante order from the Supreme Court (SC).

Under Comelec en banc resolution 9591, the raffle requires the presence of at least two commissioners of the poll body, representatives of party-list groups and members of the media.

Previously, the names of party-list groups were printed alphabetically but the poll body issued a resolution to change the practice.

The Comelec originally scheduled the raffle last Dec .17 but was moved to Jan. 4 as the poll body must first finish the ruling on unresolved cases of party list groups.