MANILA, Philippines – Party-list group P3PWD of former elections commissioner Rowena Guanzon asked the Supreme Court on Monday, February 3, to direct the House of Representatives to formalize its entry to Congress.
P3PWD had won one seat in the 2022 elections, but a long court battle that eventually voided Guanzon’s bid to represent the group has kept that party-list post vacant for more than two years.
To fix the issue, P3PWD named a new first nominee — Maria Camille Ilagan — in compliance with the Supreme Court ruling made public in November 2024, and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) proclaimed her in December, but two months later, she has yet to get a schedule with Speaker Martin Romualdez, who must administer her oath before her name is included in the roll of members.
The group accused Romualdez of grave abuse of discretion for supposedly withholding her induction.
“Romualdez, in his capacity as the speaker of the House of Representatives, effectively frustrates the democratic mandate and the will of the electorate duly expressed by the 391,174 voters who cast their ballots for petitioner P3PWD in the May 2022 elections,” the petition for mandamus read.
“Respondent Speaker Romualdez’s refusal is not merely an erroneous exercise of discretion — it is an outright defiance of a constitutional duty that is purely ministerial in nature,” it added.
Rappler has reached out for comment to the offices of Romualdez and House Secretary General Reginald Velasco, who was also named as respondent in the petition, but we have yet to receive a response as of writing.
Expiring seat
With Congress set to adjourn later this week for a three-month campaign period, P3PWD is left with six session days in June, when lawmakers reconvene for one final time before the 19th Congress expires, to carry out the group’s legislative functions.
“This imminent recess and subsequent adjournment thus make it imperative that respondent Romualdez immediately fulfill his ministerial obligation to administer Ms. Ilagan’s oath, lest the people’s voice, specifically the rights and interests of patients, persons with disabilities, and senior citizens, among other marginalized sectors of society, be silenced for the remainder of the 19th Congress,” P3PWD also insisted.
P3PWD first joined the party-list race in 2022. After its election win became apparent, the group replaced its entire list of nominees with another list that had Guanzon’s name on top.
The Comelec, composed of Guanzon’s former colleagues, immediately approved the substitutions, but the Supreme Court later issued a restraining order that effectively derailed Guanzon’s congressional aspirations.
After two years, the Supreme Court ruled that the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion, flagging the speed with which the poll body greenlit Guanzon’s substitution papers.
It said the November 2021 substitution deadline imposed by the Comelec remained mandatory even after elections, contrary to Guanzon’s argument that the date was only “directory.”
The ruling still gave P3PWD some wiggle room. It can still maximize the seat it won in 2022 by just submitting a new list of nominees, just not Guanzon and the other four nominees whose papers were nullified by the Supreme Court. – Rappler.com