(File photo)
MANILA – Agricultural entrepreneur Robert Gerard Nazal Jr. took his oath on Monday as the newest member of the House of Representatives, representing the Magsasaka sa Sakahan, Kaunlaran (MAGSASAKA) party-list.
This after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) recently issued a certificate of finality and entry of judgment where it declared its ruling as “final and executory” in favor of MAGSASAKA national chairperson Soliman Villamin Jr. and served as a ticket to Nazal's nomination to represent the party-list group in Congress.
The poll body resolved the internal dispute between Villamin Jr. and the faction led by lawyer Argel Joseph Cabatbat, the group’s former representative to the lower chamber.
Nazal took his oath of office before Judge Jose Paneda of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 220, the same day the Comelec issued a certificate of proclamation in his favor for being a qualified nominee of the MAGSASAKA party-list.
After taking his oath, Nazal paid a courtesy call on Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez at the Batasang Pambansa.
He also met with House Majority Leader Manuel Jose “Mannix” Dalipe and Senior Deputy Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos.
On May 26, the Comelec proclaimed MAGSASAKA as one of the 55 winning party-list groups in the May 9 elections, after obtaining 272,737 votes which entitled it to one House seat in the 19th Congress.
On Sept. 9, the Comelec en banc upheld the Nov. 25, 2021 resolution of the first division junking the petitions to deny due course to the manifestation of intent to participate (MIP) in the May 2022 elections submitted by Villamin Jr.
Section 13(a), Rule 18 of the 1993 Comelec Rules of Procedure provides that a resolution of the en banc in special proceedings shall become final and executory after 30 days from its promulgation.
The poll body said the records show that until Oct. 10, “no restraining order has been issued by the Supreme Court in relation to the Resolution within 30 days from the receipt of the parties thereof.”
“Now therefore, in view of the foregoing, the Resolution of the Commission (en banc) promulgated on 09 September 2022 is hereby declared FINAL and EXECUTORY under the Comelec Rules of Procedure,” it said.
The Comelec en banc upheld an earlier ruling by its first division recognizing the Villamin Jr. faction’s MIP, which contained a set of MAGSASAKA nominees different from the one submitted by Cabatbat’s group. (PNA)
