Guanzon says petition vs her nomination as P3PWD party-list representative now moot

FILE PHOTO: Former Comelec Commissioner and incoming P3PWD Party-list Rep. Rowena Guanzon.

Update

MANILA, Philippines — Incoming P3PWD Party-list Rep. Rowena Guanzon on Thursday said the petition to stop her from sitting as a member of the House of Representatives is already moot.

Guanzon already took her oath of office as representative of the Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente at Persons with Disabilities (P3PWD) before Court of Appeals Associate Justice Edwin Sorongon.

“Wala na ang TRO (temprary restraining order). Hindi na pwede ihinto, moot and academic na,” she said.

The Duterte Youth Party-List on Tuesday filed a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) questioning the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision allowing the substitution of Guanzon, one of its former commissioners, as P3WD nominee.

The party-list won and garnered enough votes to occupy one seat in Congress. On June 14, all the original nominees submitted their resignation/withdrawal from the organization to the Comelec. On that same day, the nominee submitted certificates of nomination and acceptance with Guanzon as the first nominee.

READ: P3PWD Party-list nominees resign; Guanzon name comes out as replacement

Duterte Youth Rep. Marie Cardema and chairman Carlo Cardema also urged the SC to issue a temporary restraining order against the Comelec to prevent it from issuing a certificate of the proclamation to the substituting nominees.

The petitioners said the Comelec disregarded its own rules regarding party-list substitution since it decided on the P3WD case after the elections were held on May 9.

Under Comelec Resolution No. 9366 promulgated in 2012 and amended by Resolution No. 10690 on January 27, 2021, the withdrawal of nominations and substitution of nominees due to withdrawal shall be made no later than November 15, 2021.

Guanzon said if Cardema wanted to question her becoming a party-list member, she said he should raise the case before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) since this is no longer under the SC’s jurisdiction.

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