By Filane Mikee Cervantes/PNA
MANILA — The House of Representatives on Monday afternoon removed ABS party-list Rep. Eugene de Vera as member of the 17th Congress.
In his manifestation during the plenary session, Majority Leader Rolando Andaya Jr. said he received communication from ABS party-list president Catalina Leonen-Pizarro that de Vera has been expelled as a member of the party-list.
He further cited a Commission on Elections en banc resolution, stating that the matter of de Vera’s expulsion is within the House’s jurisdiction and covered by its rules and regulations.
Andaya ordered the House Secretary General to drop de Vera’s name from the list of congressmen.
The ABS party-list named second nominee Ulysses Garces as its representative, replacing de Vera.
“May I request that the Secretary General be instructed to drop from the roll of members of the House of Representatives, Representative Eugene Michael B. de Vera, and allow the nominee-next-in-line of the ABS party-list, the honorable Ulysses G. Garces, to take his oath as member of the House and Representative of the ABS party-list,” Andaya said.
De Vera contested the manifestation, arguing that only the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal has jurisdiction on qualification issues, including bona fide membership in a party-list group.
“A mere letter cannot be a basis for unseating me from this august chamber,” de Vera said.
