Belmonte swears in new partylist solons

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. swears 22 of the 40 partylist lawmakers expected to take their oath Wednesday. KAREN BONCOCAN/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—Forty party-list lawmakers on Wednesday took their oath before Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. as members of the House of Representatives.

The oathtaking rites began at around 10 a.m. inside the Speaker’s Social Hall, according to the Public Relations and Information Bureau (PRIB) of the House of Representatives.

Only 22 of the newly-elected party-list lawmakers were present during the ceremony. Another batch would be sworn in within the day.

Following were the  party-list lawmakers sworn in at 11:10 a.m.:

• A-Teacher Partylist Representatives Mariano Piamonte and Julieta Cortuna;
• 1-Care Partylist Representatives Michael Angelo Rivera and Edgardo Masongsong;
• Aambis-Owa Partylist Representative Sharon Garin;
• Abakada Partylist Representative Jonathan dela Cruz;
• ABS Partylist Representative Catalina Leonen-Pizzaro;
• Agap Partylist Representatives Nicanor Briones and Rico Geron;
• An Waray Partylist Representative Neil Benedict Montejo;
• Ave Partylist Representative Eulogio “Amang” Magsaysay;
• Buhay Partylist Representatives Jose Lito Atienza and Irwin Tieng;
• Butil Partylist Representative Agapito Guanlao;
• Cibac Partylist Representatives Sherwin Tugna and Cinchona Cruz-Gonzales;
• Coop-Natco Partylist Representatives Cresente Paez and Anthony Bravo;
• Kalinga Partylist Representative Abigail Faye Ferriol;
• Magdalo Partylist Representatives Gary Alejano and Francisco Ashley Acedillo; and
• OFW Partylist Representative Juan Johnny Revilla.

Members of the media, initially barred from entering the venue, were allowed inside at 10:45 a.m.

Bernadette dela Cuesta, executive director of PRIB, said that not all of the 53 winning party-list lawmakers took their oath Wednesday.

“It was decided that all of those who requested to take their oath before the Speaker would do so today, as a group,” she said.

In Belmonte’s speech, he apologized to the new House members for being late, saying he had to be present during the launch of the construction of a P40 million-worth building which would be called the Mindanao Auditorium in the University of the Philippines Diliman.

The building, funded “100 percent by (outgoing) Lanao del Norte Representative Fatima Aliah Dimaporo” was a prime example of “a great sacrifice not many congressmen will make… to put their funds to another purpose, one that is beneficial to the entire country,” said Belmonte.

The said auditorium was being constructed for the College of Architecture, he said.

Originally posted at 09:44 am | Wednesday, June 26, 2013