Court defers lawmaker’s arraignment for usurpation

MANILA, Philippines - A Quezon City judge has deferred the arraignment of disqualified Marinduque congresswoman Regina Reyes on charges of usurpation of official functions lodged by a political rival in the 2013 polls.

Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 41 Judge Analie Oga-Brual reset the arraignment to  the last week of January, in view of a petition for review filed by Reyes before the Department of Justice.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by former Marinduque congressman Allan Jay Velasco, whom the Commission on Elections (Comelec) proclaimed as the winner following the disqualification of Reyes due to her American citizenship.

Reyes was able to participate in the 2013 elections as the disqualification filed by Velasco at the time was still pending. She won by more than 5,000 votes.

But a few days after her proclamation, the Comelec disqualified Reyes, cancelled her certificate of candidacy and nullified her proclamation.

The Supreme Court affirmed the Comelec ruling.

Despite this, Reyes did not step down and continued to assume the role of Marinduque representative, prompting Velasco to file the usurpation charges.

Assistant city prosecutor Caroline Tobias found probable cause to file a case against the congresswoman for violating Article 177 of the Revised Penal Code.

The law penalizes any person who falsely represents himself to be an officer, agent or representative of any department or agency of the government.

Reyes’ lawyer Harry Roque said the disqualification case against his client should be under the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET), and not with the Comelec as she was already a proclaimed candidate.

“There was no usurpation,” Roque said on Wednesday.

Tobias ruled that the HRET does not have jurisdiction over a candidate who is not a member of Congress.

She said Reyes could not be considered as such as she had a void proclamation.