Lawmaker quizzes powers of Congress’ sec.-general to nix Comelec-proclaimed post from House roster
AN embattled lawmaker has queried the House of Representatives’ Legal Affairs Department to address issues raised against the power of the secretarygeneral to remove a duly-elected and proclaimed congressman from the Lower House’s official roster.
In his letter sent yesterday to Deputy Secretary General Atty. Annalou S. Nachura, Congressman-elect Romeo Jalosjos Jr., who represents the first district of Zamboanga del Norte, sought a written reply on the clarificatory questions raised in the plenary on December 15, 2022 by fellow Nacionalista Party-member Rep. Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte, in relation to his removal from the House membership.
“This representation respectfully seeks a written answer to the foregoing parliamentary inquiry, as this affects the status of my membership, in view of resolving the seeming gaps in the interpretation of the Constitution and the Rules of the House of Representatives, so as not to set an erroneous precedence for the future House members,” the letter dated December 23, 2022 read.
Jalosjos also asked Congress to uphold its mandate to its members and constituents without partiality, and to reinstate him in the Roll of Members for the 19th Congress.
In his parliamentary inquiry, Barbers asked if the secretary-general elected, who was voted by members of the previous 18th Congress, can hold office beyond the constitutional term of Congress that elected him or her, and “by what constitutional or legal authority did he [or she exercise his or her] being a de facto secretary-general, or beyond June 30, 2022?”
Even assuming that the services of the secretary-general beyond June 30, 2022 is legal, Barbers inquired about the powers that are allowed to be exercised between June 30, 2022, until the organization of the next Congress on the fourth Monday of July 2022, during the State of the Nation Address of the newly elected president of the country.
Barbers noted that under Section 16, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, only the concurrence of two-thirds of all members of the House may suspend or expel a member.
Likewise, the provision of Section 4 of the House Rules states that “any member proclaimed winner by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and assumed office on June 30, 2022 following the elections, whose validity of proclamation is put in question in any judicial or administrative body, shall remain a member of the House of Representatives absent [the] final and executory judgment of the appropriate judicial or administrative body.”
While the secretary-general has the ministerial duty to accept dulyelected candidates proclaimed by the Comelec, Barbers clarified if the de facto secretary-general has the power, or authority, to delist any member from the roll of duly elected representatives after assuming office on June 30, despite having submitted the Certificate of Proclamation and Oath of Office.
Comelec proclaimed Jalosjos as the winner in the May 2022 elections which saw a three-way race that pitted him against Roberto “Pinpin” Uy Jr. and one Frederico “Kuya Jun” Jalosjos Jr., who was declared a nuisance candidate by the Commission en banc.
Records showed that Uy garnered 69,591 votes. Jalosjos Jr. came in second with 69,109 votes, while the other got 5,424 votes. On May 12, 2022, the Comelec issued an order that stopped the proclamation of Uy, and another order on June 7, 2022 which declared Frederico Jalosjos Jr. as a nuisance candidate.
The election body eventually credited to Jalosjos Jr. the votes received by Federico Jalosjos. On June 23, the former was declared winner.
But on July 21, barely a month after Jalosjos assumed his post, the Supreme Court issued a status quo ante order prior to the Comelec’s May 10, 2022 and June 7, 2022 directives.