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Garcia: Up to House of Representatives to recognize Guanzon as partylist rep
By HANA BORDEY,GMA NewsWith a case currently pending before the Supreme Court, it is up to the House of Representatives to recognize former poll commissioner Rowena Guanzon as partylist representative, Commission on Elections Chairman George Garcia said Thursday.
"As far as the Comelec is concerned na proclaim na po namin siya...and nakapag-oath na po siya but at the same time nag-issue ng status quo ante [order] ang Korte Suprema," Garcia said in an interview on CNN Philippines.
"The ball is now (in) the hands of the House of Representatives but ang pagkakaalam po natin the House of Representatives followed the Supreme Court status quo ante order and they did not yet recognize former commissioner Rowena Guanzon as a member of the House of Representatives," he added.
The Comelec chairman said it is not only Guanzon who is facing the situation. He was referring to the SC decision stopping Romeo Jalosjos Jr. from sitting as the representative of the first district of Zamboanga del Norte after he was proclaimed by the Comelec.
In June, the SC issued a decision
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The temporary restraining order (TRO) enjoined the Comelec, the House of Representatives, and Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente, at Persons with Disabilities (P3PWD) to follow.
The decision stemmed from a petition filed by the Duterte Youth Party-List questioning the Comelec decision allowing the substitution of Guanzon as P3PWD nominee.
Guanzon has already taken her oath as representative of the party-list group, which won a seat in the last election. This would give Guanzon a seat at the House of Representatives.
The Comelec previously approved in a "majority vote" the request of the party to withdraw the nomination of its original roster namely Grace Yeneza, Ira Paulo Pozon, Marianne Heidi Cruz Fullon, Peter Jonas David, and Lily Grace Tiangco.
The en banc has also "given due course" or granted and approved the new list of nominees that named Guanzon as its first nominee. Rosalie Garcia was named second nominee; Cherrie Belmonte-Lim, third; Donnabel Tenorio, fourth; and Rodolfo Villar Jr., fifth.—AOL, GMA News