Ex-Comelec official to join House opposition

Former poll Commissioner Rowena Guanzon | INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Former poll commissioner Rowena Guanzon is poised to join the minority bloc in the 19th Congress as the representative of the P3PWD party list and seek more funds for persons with disabilities (PWDs) and chronic illnesses.

In an interview over ANC, Guanzon, who was also an audit commissioner before being named to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), said she would scrutinize the annual budget and ensure that the sector that she represents will get a fair share.

“I will join the minority just to make sure that the PWDs and those with chronic illnesses will get a fair share in the budget of government agencies, especially the Department of Health, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the Department of Social Welfare and Development, and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth),” she said on Friday.

The day before, Guanzon took her oath of office as a party list lawmaker before Court of Appeals Associate Justice Edwin Sorongon.

This was after the Comelec denied the Duterte Youth’s complaint against the substitution of Guanzon as P3PWD party list’s first nominee.

Push measures for PWDs

Guanzon said she was interested in joining the House committees on health and on social services because of her party list’s advocacy.

But because of her experience as a former elections commissioner, she said she might sit in the electoral reforms panel “because I guess they have to concede that I am the election law expert there in Congress.” Guanzon’s term as elections commissioner expired in February after serving for seven years.

“But it is the appropriations committee that has a lot of clout in these things,” Guanzon said, adding: “I am going in Congress in the minority so I can be in all these committees and they’ll know that I’m in business.”

She vowed to prioritize measures pushing for the social pension of PWDs, and the strengthening of PhilHealth coverage for Filipinos who are PWDs or who have chronic illnesses.

Guanzon also proposed a bill that would require local governments to allocate 5 percent of the local income for PWD concerns.

“We will also form a consultative council, which will be from different sectors. Children with special needs, sectors with diseases like lupus, leukemia, HIV/AIDS. Some [local governments] are not issuing PWD cards to persons living with HIV (PLHIV). It’s a grave, chronic illness. That is why I want to appeal to cities and municipalities to instruct their city social welfare officers to issue PWD cards to PLHIVs,” she said.