CEBU’s fourth district will have two delegates to the House of Representatives during Monday’s session.
Former Bogo mayor Celestino “Tining” Mar-tinez III decided yesterday to attend the session, after taking his oath of office before Supreme Court (SC) Senior Justice Antonio Carpio.
He banked on the SC’s decision that declared him the winner of the May 2007 congressional elections, over Benhur Salimbangon.
With the SC decision, Martinez said that Salimbangon is now “a civilian and a wannabe, an impostor.”
“I have to be there (in the session) as part of my functions as representative of my district. I will be there because I’m the rightful congressman,” Marti-nez said in a phone interview.
Salimbangon, however, also said he will attend the session because he remains the congressman until the SC resolves his motion for reconsideration.
Told about Salimbangon’s decision, Martinez asked what his rival intends to accomplish by attending the session.
“I already took my oath. How blunt do they want me to be?” Martinez said.
Salimbangon’s lawyer, Delon Urot, said that Martinez can attend the session but as an observer or guest, not as the district’s representative.
“House Speaker Prospero Nograles did not acknowledge Martinez as a member of the House,” he added.
“Oath-taking is part of the process but not the end of the process. It’s the initial stage. What is material is not the oath-taking, but the recognition of the Speaker,” Urot also said.
The Salimbangon camp, he added, has also informed Nograles that they already filed a motion for reconsideration.
The most prudent thing to do, Urot added, is to wait until the resolution of their motion for reconsideration by the SC.
For his part, Martinez also objected to a reported statement of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) 7 Director Pedro Noval that he (Martinez) can’t assume office yet.
“His statement was so irresponsible. He needs to read the entire SC decision first,” Martinez said.
The SC recently ruled that 5,401 votes cast for “Martinez” and “C. Martinez” in the May 2007 elections should be counted in favor of the former mayor, instead of being declared stray.
Shortly after the elections, candidate Edilito C. Martinez was disqualified and declared a nuisance candidate. (RSA)