HRET has last say over congressman's case

DESPITE the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to unseat a member of Congress, the House Speaker said it has no more bearing on the lawmaker's supposed disqualification.

House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said the disqualification case against Representative Fernando Gonzalez (third district, Albay) now rests on the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET).

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This, as Gonzalez has already been proclaimed winner by the poll body itself and has been duly sworn in to start his work as a member of Congress.

“I took the position that once a person has been proclaimed and has actually assumed a position and in this case has actually been participating for the last month in the proceedings, only the HRET has jurisdiction exclusively,” Belmonte said.

“The Comelec cannot touch the person anymore or take any action thereon,” the Speaker added.

The petition was filed by losing congressional candidate Reno Lim who alleged that Gonzalez was not a Filipino citizen, making him ineligible to run as the Constitution states. Gonzalez was born of a Spanish father and a Filipino mother.

Belmonte disclosed that Lim has already filed the same complaint with the HRET, which is now preparing more than 50 cases to be heard.

Earlier, the poll body withdrew its proclamation of Ang Kasangga party-list Representative Teodoro Haresco after it was proved that he does not belong to the ranks of micro-entrepreneurs, which the group claimed to represent.

Haresco's case is one of those which will be heard by the HRET.

Representatives Franklin Bautista (second district, Davao del Sur), Rufus Rodriguez (second district, Cagayan de Oro City), Joselito Mendoza (third district, Bulacan), Justin Chipeco (second district, Laguna), and Ma. Theresa Bonoan-David (fourth district, Manila) were earlier elected to compose the HRET. (Kathrina Alvarez/Sunnex)