2 new House members take oath as session returns

MANILA, Philippines — Upon resumption of Congress’s regular session on Monday, the House of Representatives welcomed two new members among their ranks.

Macnell Lusotan and Shirlyn Bañas-Nograles assumed their posts as the second representative of the Marino party-list and South Cotabato 1st District as they took their oaths as House members at the plenary.

This makes the number of House members to 301 from 299 members.

Lusotan replaced Jose Antonio Lopez, who was the original second nominee of the party-list but resigned from his post and the group due to “personal reasons.”

READ: Marino party-list’s 2nd nominee resigns

The party-list, which represents the sea-based sector, won two seats in the May 2019 elections.

Meanwhile, Nograles was recently proclaimed as the representative of South Cotabato 1st District, including General Santos City, after the Supreme Court (SC) ordered the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to proclaim her as a district representative.

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) also suspended the congressional polls in the district.

READ: Comelec suspends congressional polls in South Cotabato, Southern Leyte

Nograles obtained 194,929 votes in the May 2019 polls.

READ: South Cotabato representative finally proclaimed