ELECTION lawyer Romulo Macalintal on Thursday, July 24, 2025, urged the public to question the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to allow Yedda Romualdez to assume the post as third nominee of Tingog party-list in the 20th Congress despite already serving for three straight terms as a member of the House of Representatives.
In a radio interview, Macalintal said it would be good if the case of Romualdez, who represented the First District of Leyte from 2016 to 2019 and the Tingog party-list from 2019 to 2025, will be questioned before the Supreme Court (SC) or the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET).
"Dapat magkaroon definite ruling sa bagay na ito. Kung makarating sa SC or HRET ay malaman natin na kung ano batayan kung may ganitong situation tayo," said Macalintal.
(Dapat magkaroon definite ruling sa bagay na ito. Kung makarating sa SC or HRET ay malaman natin na kung ano batayan kung may ganitong situation tayo.)
Otherwise, he said there can be a wave of lawmakers that will just make a shift from being district representative to a party-list nominee, and vice versa, if such a ruling is not put into question.
The 1987 Constitution states that: "no member of the House of Representatives shall serve for more than three consecutive terms".
"Lalabas na pwede na yan... magiging precedent na yan e. Kaya dapat magkaroon ng specific resolution dito," said Macalintal.
(That could set a precedent, so there must be a specific resolution for this.)
The Comelec declared Yedda Romualdez as the third nominee of Tingog party-list despite originally being the sixth nominee of the group.
This means that Yedda will join her son, Rep. Andrew Romualdez (1st nominee), and Rep. Jude Acidre (2nd nominee) as Tingog representatives in the 20th Congress.
According to Macalintal, he is not in favor of the decision of the Comelec since the wife of House Speaker Martin Romualdez has served Congress for three straight terms already.
He said such a decision will make it appear that Philippine laws can easily be circumvented.
"Sa interpretasyon ng Comelec, magkaiba ang nasabing term. Kaya dun nagkaroon sila ng desisyon na payagan makaupo si Cong Yedda, dahil hindi counted ang term niya as district representative," Macalintal said.
(According to the Comelec’s interpretation, the terms in question are different. That’s why they decided to allow Cong. Yedda to assume office, as her term as district representative was not counted.)
"Parang we are making a mockery of the electoral process," added Macalintal. (Anton Banal/SunStar Philippines)