By Ferdinand Patinio | Philippine News Agency
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is set to form a team that will look into the guidelines for party-list nominations.
This is in the wake of a Supreme Court (SC) ruling on the case of the P3PWD (Komunidad ng Pamilya Pasyente at Persons with Disabilities) party-list group granting a petition questioning the substitution of former poll body commissioner Rowena Guanzon as a nominee that won a seat in the 2022 elections.
“Sa part ng Commission, gagawa kami ng team para magbigay payo [kung] ano ang mga provision ng guidelines sa party-list na dapat baguhin para maging consistent sa decision ng SC. Sa substitution, kapangyarihan ng Comelec… administrative at quasi-judicial function namin,” Comelec chairperson George Erwin Garcia said in an interview Thursday.
He added that they are ready to proclaim the nominees of the party representing the vulnerable sector.
“Kapag ang party-list ay nagsumite na ng nominees nila, hindi na kami mag MR (motion for reconsideration) sa SC. Kaagad na namin ipapatupad ‘yan,” Garcia added.
Garcia said it would be unfair for the affected party-list if it would not be represented in Congress.
“Para naman makahabol sa term, kaagad kami magpoproklama. Pero siyempre, depende sa party-list ‘yan. Kung mag MR sila, hindi final and executory ‘yung decision,” he added.
The SC, in a decision, said: “The petition is granted. Comelec Minute resolution dated June 15, 2022 is declared null and void for having been issued with grave abuse of discretion insofar as it approved the substitution of the nominees of respondent P3PWD Party-list. The court’s restraining order dated June 29, 2022 is made permanent.”
The court ordered P3PWD to submit additional nominees, “but is strictly enjoined from renominating” the nominees whose substitutions were declared null and void by the decision.
The Duty to Energize the Republic Through the Enlightenment of the Youth (DUTERTE Youth) party-list, represented by its chairperson Ronald Cardema, was the petitioner in the case.