Ousted solon to hang on to seat, will appeal SC ruling

DESPITE a Supreme Court ruling voiding her candidacy in 2013 because she was an American Citizen, Marinduque Rep. Regina Ongsiako-Reyes still has the option to file a motion for reconsideration and therefore continues to be the “lawful representative” of her province in Congress, her lawyer said Wednesday.

Harry Roque, countering Supreme Court spokesperson Theodore Te that the ruling was final and executory, said Reyes’ camp has yet to receive a copy and that an appeal for reconsideration would be filed.

“[Te] merely announced that the court allegedly ruled against Representative Reyes. No actual resolution has been issued by the court neither have we received a resolution from them. Even if true, Representative Reyes is entitled to file a motion for reconsideration within 15 days from the receipt of the court’s resolution. Until the denial of that motion, she continues to be the lawful representative of Marinduque in Congress,” he said in a statement.

On Tuesday, the high court, voting 8-1, affirmed the Commission on Election’s disqualification of Reyes and installation of the runnerup, Lord Allan Jay Velasco as congressman. The court also ordered House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte to administer the oath of office to Velasco and the House secretary-general to include Velasco’s name in the roster of congressmen.

Roque, however, insisted that Congress, not just the Speaker, has to act as a collegial body if Reyes has to be ousted from the post.

Velasco is the son of Ang Mata’y Alagaan party-list Rep. Lorna Velasco and Supreme Court Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr., who inhibited from the case along with five other justices.

Reyes, daughter of incumbent Marinduque Gov. Carmencita Reyes, was found ineligible to run for public office by the Comelec en banc for failing to renounce her American citizenship as required under the Citizenship Retention and Re-acquisition Act of 2003.

The Comelec came out with its ruling on May 14, 2014, or one day after election day.