THE Supreme Court, seating en banc, ruled that former Commission on Elections (COMELEC) commissioner Rowena Amelia Guanzon, cannot seat as a partylist lawmaker under the 19th Congress, as it also censured the COMELEC for “grave abuse of discretion.”
In the decision dated August 24, 2024 but released only to the media recently, the SC sided with the “urgent petition for certiorari” filed by the ‘DUTERTE Youth Partylist,’ (Duty to Energize the Republic thru the Empowerment of the Youth) docketed under GR 261123, for annulment of the COMELEC’s approval of the substitution of candidates of the ‘P3PWD’ Partylist (Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente at Persons with Disability) where Guanzon ended up as the first nominee and the party’s representative in Congress.
Dissenting from the majority decision penned by Associate Justice Ricardo R. Rosario are Associate Justices Alfredo Benjamin Caguioa and Jhosep Lopez.
What happened?
P3PWD won a seat in the May 9, 2022, elections, along the DUTERTE Youth.
Guanzon was named first nominee in the third list of nominees the P3PWD submitted to the COMELEC on June 14, 2024, weeks after it was confirmed that the party won a seat in the elections and months after the October 2021 deadline for substitution of partylist nominees set by the COMELEC that Guanzon herself signed on.
Records of the decision showed that after being accredited to participate in the 2022 polls, P3PWD originally submitted on October 6, 2021 its five nominees headed by Grace S. Yeneza, followed by Joel R. Lopez, Allen Jose R. Serna, Michelle R. Ofalla, and, Guillermo R. Eugenio.
Then on November 5, 2021, the party changed its lineup, this time consisting of Grace S. Yeneza as first nominee and followed by Ira Paulo I. Pozon, Marianne Heidi C. Fullon, Peter Jonas R. Davia, and, Lily Grace A. Tiangco.
Under Minute Resolution 21-13275 dated November 24, 2021, the COMELEC en banc, approved the substitution, along with the request for substitution filed by other partylist groups. This final list was then published by the COMELEC on December 29, 2021, to guide voters.
On February 2, 2022, Guanzon, along with COMELEC chair Sheriff Abas and Commissioner Antonio Kho Jr., stepped down upon completion of their 7-years term.
Kho would be subsequently appointed to the Supreme Court and would not participate in the petition against Guanzon filed by the DUTERTE Youth.
With the P3PWD winning a seat in the May 9, 2022, polls, the COMELEC proclaimed Yaneza as qualified to represent P3PWD in Congress.
After taking her oath of office on June 30 before a judge in Makati, Yaneza forwarded on the same day copies of her oath of office and certificate of proclamation to Congress, showing her intention to seat as a partylist lawmaker.
But things started to get ‘eye raising’ from thereon, however.
On June 7, the second, third, fourth and fifth nominees of P3PWD resigned from the party, citing various reasons while Yeneza herself would also resign the next day “in order to personally attend to her daughter” who had been diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer, the decision noted.
On June 14, P3PWD filed another petition before the COMELEC submitting a new list of nominees, this time with Guanzon as its first nominee, along with Rosalie J. Garcia, Chereie B. Belmonte-Lim, Donnabel C. Tenorio, also the party secretary general, and Rodolfo B. Villar, Jr.
To recall, Guanzon had just stepped down as poll commissioner less than 4 months previously and signed on the COMELEC resolution setting a deadline for the submission of the final nominees for the partylist election.
Barely a day after receiving P3PWD’s petition, the COMELEC en banc issued Minute Resolution 22-07774, approving this third list of nominees.
‘Revanche’ between Cardema, Guanzon
On June 17, the DUTERTE Youth, headed by National Youth Commission (NYC) chair Ronald Cardema and his wife, Rep. Ducielle Marie Suarez, filed their opposition to the COMELEC’s decision. Cardema also invoked RA 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act) and RA 6713 (Code of Ethical Standards for Government Officials) against Guanzon.
Thru their counsel, Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, they also filed a petition before the Supreme Court on June 21 to stop the COMELEC from proclaiming Guanzon as P3PWD representative in Congress under Minute Resolution 22-07774.
While the COMELEC would throw out Cardema’s opposition on June 22, the Supreme Court on June 29, granted their request for a temporary restraining order.
To recall it would be a ‘revanche’ between Guanzon and Cardema.
In the 2019 elections, it was Guanzon, as COMELEC commissioner, who mainly blocked Cardema’s substitution as DUTERTE Youth representative in Congress.
Cardema sought to represent the party after DUTERTE Youth’s original nominees also subsequently withdraw their nominations, a situation very similar to the case of P3PWD.
Thru the efforts of Guanzon, Cardema was not allowed to represent the DUTERTE Youth in the 18th Congress, ruling with finality in February 2020 against his nomination. The post instead went to his wife, Ducielle.
The SC ruling evened the score between Cardema and Guanzon, after it directed the P3PWD to submit to the COMELEC a new list of nominees but with the “strict” admonition to not include the names of Guanzon and the four other nominees in the party’s third submitted list to the COMELEC.
It also declared COMELEC Resolution 22-0774 dated June 15 as “null and void” for having been issued with “grave abuse of discretion.”
The SC decision, which becomes “immediately executory,” also declared as permanent the TRO it issued on June 29 against the COMELEC and Congress from seating Guanzon.
Reacting to the decision, Topacio said:
“Ms. Guanzon wanted to make the House of Representatives her golden parachute after her retirement from the Commission on Elections, using knowledge and connections gained from her stint in that agency in order to gain an unfair advantage over legitimate party list groups. “Unfortunately for her, she was caught with her hand in the cookie jar.
“Let this wise ruling of the High Tribunal be a warning to those who would subvert the Constitution for their selfish ends that the courts will not countenance such brazen abuse.”