The Commission on Elections (Comelec) Second Division has cancelled the registration of An Waray party-list for permitting a second nominee to sit down as a member of Congress with out the correct authority in violation of the party-list regulation.
In a decision launched on Friday, June 2, the Comelec Second Division mentioned it allowed its second nominee throughout the 2016 polls, lawyer Victoria Isabel Noel, to sit down as a member of the House of Representatives figuring out “fully well” that the the ballot physique has not issued a Certificate of Proclamation entitling her to take action.
The decision stemmed from a petition filed by Danilo Pornias, Jr. and Jude Acidre again in April 2019.
The Second Division famous that whereas An Waray was proclaimed as one of many winners within the party-list race throughout the 2013 polls and was initially entitled to 2 seats within the House of Representatives, this was recomputed and decreased to at least one seat solely beneath National Board of Canvassers (NBC) Resolution No. 13-030(PL)/004-14 issued on August 20, 2014.
“Without a Certificate of Proclamation for its second nominee, An Waray was entitled to one seat only in relation to the 2013 National and Local Elections, thus Atty. [Isabel] Noel’s assumption to office as Representative of An Waray had no legal basis,” the Comelec mentioned in a press release.
“The recomputation of seats was made following the Supreme Court’s order, in Abang Lingkod Party List vs. Comelec, to proclaim Abang Lingkod party-list as one of the winning party-list groups in the 2013 National and Local Elections with the number of seats it may be entitled to, and in view of the then-pendency of the case of Senior Citizens party-list before the Supreme Court,” the Comelec added.
The identical Comelec Resolution on the Acidre petition additionally cited that the NBC Resolution No. 0008-13 issued on May 28, 2013, which An Waray solely relied on as the idea for permitting its second nominee to take her oath and assume workplace as Representative within the House, expressly said that the seats initially allotted is “without prejudice to the proclamation of other parties, organizations or coalitions which may later on be established to be entitled to one guaranteed seat and/ or additional seat.”
Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco said the decision is not yet final and executory but clarified that An Waray has limited time to appeal the decision before the Comelec en banc.
“An Waray has five days from today to file Motion for Reconsideration (MR). Should they fail to do so within the reglementary period, the decision will become final and executory,” Laudiangco told reporters.
“The Resolution has but to develop into last and executory however ought to or not it’s so, please recall that the first qualification to have the ability to take part within the party-list system of illustration elections is its registration, and such qualification should be frequently possessed,” Laudiangco added when asked if the Comelec Second Division’s decision impacts the current seat of An Waray party-list Representative Florencio “Bem” Noel, brother of Victoria Isabel Noel.
Bem Noel, in a message to GMA News Online, said the party “will exhaust all authorized cures.”
Acidre can also be a nineteenth Congress member like Noel representing the Tingog party-list.
Road forward
Election lawyer Emil Marañon III mentioned that An Waray has plenty of authorized cures following the choice.
“The decision is not yet final, and An Waray may still file an MR. While the MR is pending with the Comelec en Banc, the effects of the decision is deemed suspended and for the meantime, it will have no effect on its sitting nominee,” Marañon advised GMA News Online in a textual content message.
In the occasion that the Comelec en Banc affirms the choice of the Second Division, he mentioned that an applicable Quo Warranto petition nonetheless must be filed with the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) to take away the sitting An Waray nominee.
“The removal is not automatic as the Supreme Court has already ruled that the member of Congress is the nominee, not the party-list organization per se,” he added.—LDF, GMA Integrated News
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
