Mindoro solon seeks replacement of HRET justices

Rep. Reynaldo Umali. INQUIRER.net/HOTARU NIITSU

A senior administration lawmaker on Tuesday appealed to Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno to reconsider her decision to keep three associate justices on the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) despite potential conflicts of interest involving the three.

In a statement, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, vice chair of the House committee on justice, referred to Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco, Diosdado Peralta and Lucas Bersamin, who all sit on the HRET with lawmakers.

Umali said the justices on the HRET should be replaced not only to ensure objectivity and fairness in resolving electoral protests but also to protect the independence of the House.

He cited the case of Marinduque Rep. Regina Reyes, whose disqualification is being sought by Velasco’s son, former Marinduque congressman Lord Allan Velasco.

Reyes defeated Velasco in the 2013 elections by around 4,000 votes but Velasco’s camp had protested at the Commission on Elections (Comelec) that Reyes was a US citizen. The Comelec found merit in the protest.

The case reached the Supreme Court, which upheld the Comelec ruling that Reyes is a US citizen. Reyes, however, countered that the decisions of both the Comelec and the high court were questionable as the evidence presented consisted of passages from a blog and an unverified photocopy of a document from the Bureau of Immigration.