HOUSE Secretary General Reggie Velasco yesterday said Reps. Romeo Jalosjos Jr. of Zamboanga del Norte and Florencio Noel of An Waray party-list will remain as members of the House of Representatives for now pending the final resolution of their electoral cases.
Velasco also said the House leadership will not yet act on separate decisions removing the two lawmakers because it has yet to receive notices to execute the orders.
The Supreme Court has declared Roberto “Pinpin” Uy Jr. as the winner of the 2022 congressional elections in the first district of Zamboanga del Norte and annulled the proclamation of Romeo Jalosjos Jr. by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
The August 8 SC en banc decision set aside Comelec’s order dated May 12, 2022 and resolution dated June 7, 2022 for being issued with grave abuse of discretion.
Velasco said that while the decision came from the SC, the advice of enforcement would still have to come from the Comelec.
“Whatever the decision of the SC, it has to be affirmed by the Comelec and officially communicated to us,” he told reporters late afternoon Tuesday.
In a text message, Elections chairman George Garcia said they have yet to enforce the decision of the SC as they are still waiting for the copy of the ruling.
“Wala pa kami proclamation kasi wala pa naman official decision at wala din entry of judgement (We cannot issue yet any proclamation because we have not yet received a copy of the official decision. Also, there is still no entry of judgement), said Garcia.
The poll chief said they cannot implement a ruling based merely on the statement of the SC’s Public Information Office.
Uy, Jalosjos, Richard Amazon and Frederico “Kuya Jan” Jalosjos competed in last year’s polls to represent the first district of Zamboanga del Norte at the House of Representatives.
Rep. Jalosjos is the son of former Rep. Romeo Jalosjos who was convicted of rape.
In Noel’s case, Velasco said the House is also still waiting for formal communication from the Comelec on An-Waray’s case.
He said the House cannot remove An Waray party-list from the roster just yet because the Comelec’s ruling can still be appealed in court.
“There’s still a motion for reconsideration. So, until the final judgment and we receive it official, then that is the time we will act,” Velasco said.
In a 10-page resolution, the Comelec en banc agreed with the earlier ruling of the Commission’s Second Division canceling the accreditation of the An Waray due to supposed violations it committed in the 2013 polls.
The Comelec said there was no certificate of proclamation issued to An Waray entitling its second nominee, Victoria Isabel Noel, to sit as a representative after the 2013 national elections.
Last June, the poll body’s Second Division ordered the cancellation of the registration of An Waray as a party-list organization after Noel was found to have illegally assumed office as the second representative of the An Waray party list in the 16th Congress without a certificate of proclamation. — With Gerard Naval
