CEBU, Philippines – Following the proclamation of the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (ANAD) Party-list by the Commission on Elections, the party representative, Pastor Alcover Jr., took his oath before the plenary at the House of Representatives last Thursday evening.
Under the rules, the House of Representatives will formally recognize new members even after they have taken oath from other figures of authority such as in Alcover's case wherein he took his oath before Comelec Chairman Jose Melo.
Alcover is set to arrive in Cebu this morning with a motorcade from Mactan Cebu International Airport to the ANAD Headquarters in Cebu City.
ANAD placed 26 from out of 184 party-list groups that participated in the May 2010 elections. It got almost 300,000 votes nationwide, which entitles it a seat in the 56 slots for party-list groups in Congress.
This is the second time the Cebu-based ANAD Party-list did not immediately get its seat, the first time was in the 2007 elections.
It is only recently, about five months since the May polls, that the Comelec En Banc recognized the set of nominations for ANAD Partylist by affirming a decision of the Comelec First Division to cancel or nullify the second Certificate of Nomination and Certificate of Acceptance filed by the group of David Odilao Jr.
In a resolution promulgated September 21, 2010, the Comelec En Banc denied Odilao's motion for reconsideration.
On November 26, 2009, ANAD through its national president Domingo Balang, filed the party's Manifestation to participate in the May 10, 2010.
On March 18, 2010, Balang filed ANAD's Certificate of Nomination and Certificate of Acceptance led by Alcover as first nominee.
However, on March 26, 2010, Paul Gabunales, signing as president of ANAD, filed a second set of certificate of nomination and certificate of acceptance naming Odilao, Leborio Jangao Jr., Alexander Canonigo, Bernardo Mabbagu and Herminigildo Gonzaga as the party list ANAD's nominees.
This prompted Alcover to file a petition for the cancellation and nullification of the second set of nominees on April 30, 2010.
The Comelec En Banc ruled subsequently that Odilao's group failed to show evidence that the one who signed the certificate of nomination and certificate of acceptance submitted by Alcover's group had no authority to do so.
If further stated that, "Most importantly, the respondent did not bother to present any proof that would compel us (Commission) to conclude that they were the legitimate nominees of the party list ANAD. Respondent's bare allegation does not amount to proof or evidence, thus, deserves scant consideration." (FREEMAN)