Marinduque lawmaker to appeal DQ

MANILA, Philippines - Marinduque Rep. Regina Reyes will appeal the Supreme Court (SC) decision upholding her disqualification as a candidate by the Commission on Elections.

“We will file an appeal within 15 days from receipt of the SC decision,” Reyes’ husband, former Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas said yesterday.

He said his wife has already taken her oath of office and would continue to do her job as representative of the lone district of Marinduque.

“She has legally assumed office on June 30. The case should be transferred to the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal,” he said.

Reyes beat former Rep. Lord Allan Jay Velasco, son of SC Justice Presbitero Velasco, who also chairs the HRET.

Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales ll has said since members of the 16th Congress started their term of office at noon last Sunday, any election-related case against any of them should be transferred to the HRET.

Re-elected Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who sits in the HRET, has expressed a similar view.

Rodriguez said the Comelec loses jurisdiction over congressional winners after they have been proclaimed and have taken their oath of office.

“According to the Constitution and jurisprudence, the moment the Comelec proclaims district and party-list winners, it loses jurisdiction over issues relating to their qualifications and election, and the HRET acquires jurisdiction over these issues,” he said.

The same view has been expressed by election lawyer Romulo Macalintal in the case of the party-list group Senior Citizens.

Macalintal said since the issue raised by Senior Citizens “pertains to its ranking in the party-list election and its desire to be proclaimed, then its remedy, insofar as the already proclaimed PLs (party-list groups) are concerned, was to file a regular election protest or quo warranto before the HRET.”

“In other words, once a winner in the congressional election is proclaimed, the remedy to question such proclamation is a regular election protest,” he said.

“This process may be too difficult but any party affected is not at liberty to simply disregard the process and carve out a new procedure according to its liking,” he added.