THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) yesterday urged the Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente, at Persons with Disabilities (P3PWD) party list to submit its new list of nominees as soon as possible.
Comelec chief George Garcia said it would be better if the P3PWD would no longer file a Motion for Reconsideration (MR) before the Supreme Court, which had disallowed the substitution of former poll commissioner Rowena Guanzon as the group’s nominee.
“As soon as the party list submits their list of nominees, we will immediately implement it, we will proclaim them,” said Garcia.
“If I were them, I wouldn’t file an MR anymore so that they can immediately assume the post in Congress. There is still time remaining in their term,” he added.
In its recent decision, the SC ordered the party-list group to submit a new set of nominees to the Comelec.
To recall, the P3PWD received 391,174 votes in the May 2022 polls to earn one seat in the 19th Congress.
But the High Court disallowed the substitution of Guanzon as a P3PWD nominee and also prohibited the group from renominating Guanzon for the present term.
Garcia said the SC decision will not affect the P3PWD and Guanzon’s election bid in the 2025 polls. Guanzon is the 1st nominee of the P3PWD party-list for the 2025 race.
“She cannot be among the nominees of P3PWD for this term. If the group submits their new nominees, her name shouldn’t be included,” Garcia said.
“Nevertheless, the ruling does not affect her being the number one nominee of the party list in the 2025 elections,” added Garcia.
In a related development, the Comelec said it would create a composite team that shall review the latest Supreme Court ruling and the existing party-list guidelines of the Commission.
Garcia said such a study is necessary to harmonize the provisions of the Comelec guidelines with the latest jurisprudence from the High Tribunal.
“On the part of the Commission, we will be forming a team to provide recommendations on which provisions in our party-list guidelines must be amended in order to make it consistent with the latest SC decision,” said Garcia.
