THE Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente, at Persons with Disabilities (P3PWD) party-list group yesterday asked the Supreme Court (SC) to order Speaker Martin Romualdez to allow its first nominee to assume her seat as a member of the House of Representatives.
In a petition for mandamus, the P3PWD said there is no more legal barrier to the oath-taking of Maria Camille Ilagan as its representative in the lower house.
It cited the November 2024 ruling of the High Court directing the farmers group to submit the names of its new nominees to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Prior to the order, the SC in in August last year granted the plea of the Duterte Youth party-list group to nullify Comelec Resolution No.22-0774 which allowed former Comelec commissioner Rowena Guanzon to be the P3PWD’s first nominee.
The High Court then ruled that the Comelec resolution was issued with grave abuse of discretion as it was done beyond the deadline set by the poll body for the substitution of nominees for party-list groups.
The P3PWD said it has complied with the November 24 order of the SC and submitted a new set of nominees to the Comelec on December 3 last year, which was approved by the poll body on the same day.
It also said Ilagan has submitted to the House the required documents, including her Certificate of Proclamation dated December 3, oath of office and certification from the poll body, so she can assume her post.
“Despite the final and executory ruling of this Honorable Court in the subject decision affirming petitioner P3PWD’s electoral mandate and entitlement to a seat in the House of Representatives, neither the Office of the Secretary-General nor respondent Honorable Romualdez has taken any step to set petitioner Ilagan’s oath-taking as the duly elected representative of petitioner P3PWD in the 19th Congress,” the group said.
“Petitioner Ilagan made multiple attempts to carry out her intention to have her ceremonial oath be administered by respondent Honorable Romualdez to no avail. More critically, it constitutes a flagrant neglect of respondent Honorable Romualdez’s ministerial duty as Speaker of the House of Representatives to administer the ceremonial oath of a lawfully proclaimed party-list representative, thereby preventing petitioner Ilagan from fully assuming the seat petitioner P3PWD rightfully won, in direct contravention of this Honorable Court’s final and executory decision in the Subject Decision and the will of the electorate,” it added.
The group said Romualdez’s continued inaction on the matter despite the SC ruling thwarts the will of the more than 391,000 voters who cast their votes for them in the 2022 elections.
“Thus, the respondents’ continued and unjust refusal to administer petitioner Ilagan’s oath, deprives her of her right to enter into the performance of her functions. Consequently, petitioner P3PWD is also deprived of its right to a seat and to be represented in the House of Representatives,” it added.
