By Ferdinand Patinio | Philippine News Agency
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Friday held an electronic raffle that determined the placements of the 156 qualified party-list organizations in the official ballot for the May 2025 polls.
The top place went to 4PS (Pagtibayin at Palaguin ang Pangkabuhayang Pilipino).
Also included in the first 12 are: PPP (Puwersa ng Pilipinong Pandagat), FPJ Panday Bayanihan (FPJ Panday Bayanihan Partylist), Kabataan (Kabataan Partylist), Duterte Youth (Duty to Energize the Republic through the Enlightenment of the Youth), Mamamayang Liberal (ML), PBBM (Pilipinas Babangon Muli), P3PWD (Komunidad ng Pamilya Pasyente at Persons with Disabilities), Murang Kuryente (Murang Kuryente Partylist), Bicol Saro (Bicol Saro), Ipatupad (Ipatupad for Workers, Inc.), Patrol (Public Safety Alliance for Transformation and Rule of Law, Inc.).
A total of 124 out of the 156 accredited organizations attended the raffle.
Comelec Chair George Erwin Garcia said those who did not attend would be provided their slots.
“This is the first time we had a raffle in the presence of the whole En Banc. This is what we want to show, that they should not miss this opportunity. The procedure was orderly. We were hoping that the other groups would attend but we will not take it against them,” he said in an interview.
The electronic raffle was first introduced in the 2022 polls to determine the order of listing of party-list groups in the official ballots.
The system was adopted to avoid organizations from jostling for names in alphabetical order or via numbers.
For the May 2025 polls, the poll body has approved the accreditation of 42 new party-list groups while 118 are existing organizations.