Cebu 4th District Congressman: Benhur in session; Tining visits Nogie

CEBU, Philippines - The fireworks expected at the House of Representatives yesterday brought about by the recent ruling of the Supreme Court declaring a new winner in the 4th District Congressional polls in Cebu did not materialize.

Cebu 4th District Rep. Benhur Salimbangon attended yesterday’s while SC declared winner Celestino “Tining” Martinez III went there to pay a courtesy call on Speaker Prospero Nograles.

  “Benhur is currently attending the session. It only shows that he is still Cebu Fourth District congressman and not Tining. Wala pasudla si Tining sa session hall. Pasabot lang na nga si  Benhur lang gihapon ang gi-recognize nga congressman sa Kongreso,” said Atty. Delon Urot, legal counsel of Salimbangon.

Martinez, in a separate interview, said that he did not go to Congress yesterday to attend the session, but only to visit the Speaker.   He denied that he was barred from entering the session hall.

  “Wa man ko niadto sa session hall, but I only went to the office of the House Speaker,” Martinez said.

Last Friday, Martinez took his oath of office as congressman before Supreme Court Senior Justice Antonio Carpio and said that he will join yesterday’s session.

When asked as to what the Speaker told him during his courtesy visit, Martinez replied, “It’s confidential.”

Urot added that there is no way for Martinez to be recognized by the House Speaker as congressman considering that the motion for reconsideration that they have filed is still pending before the Supreme Court.

  “Benhur is still the congressman. Tining should wait until the May 10, 2010 elections and let’s see if the people of the fourth district want him,” Urot added.

Martinez, however, insisted that he is now the congressman and the motion for reconsideration filed by the Salimbangon’s camp is already immaterial.

Salimbangon, in an earlier interview, said that the decision f the Supreme Court declaring Martinez as the winner is not that important anymore that this point in time.

  Salimbangon said that it is now the decision of the people, who are the supreme arbiter as the people have seen and I have felt what he has done and that the issue to be resolved with the people is whether he has the performance and achievements to speak of as compared to the Martinezes, who ruled the district for 22 years.

Salimbangon and Martinez will again face off this May for the congressional seat.

Earlier, majority of the elected officials in the 4th District expressed their strong support for Salimbangon and promised to stay behind him in this legal battle.

The Supreme Court en banc, in their decision, dated January 12, declared Martinez as the elected representative of the Fourth Legislative District in the May 14, 2007 elections.

According to the Supreme Court, Martinez garnered more votes than Salimbangon with a winning margin of 4,948 votes.

Nevertheless, Salimbangon is telling his supporters to remain calm as the decision of the Supreme Court is not yet final and executory. —/NLQ   (FREEMAN NEWS)