The Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc on Monday upheld the decision to cancel the registration of Visayas-based An Waray party-list over the violation it committed in the 2013 National and Local Elections (NLE).
In a press statement, Comelec spokesperson John Rex Laudiangco said the Comelec en banc also dismissed the party-list's motion for reconsideration due to its failure to "present any exceptional circumstance or compelling reason to warrant the reversal or modification" of the resolution assailed by Comelec 2nd Division.
"The Comelec en banc iterated that the "act of taking her oath and her assumption of office with no Certificate of Proclamation [...] clearly constitutes a violation of the rules relating to a Party-list representatives," he said.
"According to the Comelec en banc, this act committed by AN WARAY PL "clearly falls under the grounds for the removal or cancellation of registrations of party-list under Section 6(5) of R.A [Republic Act] No. 7941," Laudiangco added.
In the assailed resolution released last June, Comelec 2nd Division said that the party-list failed to comply with Section 6(5) of RA No. 7941 as it allowed a second nominee, Victoria Isabel Noel to seat as House member even though it “fully well” knows that it won only one House seat in the 16th Congress.
It added that Noel were given a seat even without a certification of proclamation.
An Waray party-list then filed a motion where it argued that there was insufficient evidence to justify the poll body's decision.
The petitioners cited the party-list system does not require nominees to “take an oath and assume the office of Member of the House of Representatives” since the "party-list is proclaimed as the winner and not its nomine/s".
The group also argued that the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) and not the Comelec have the “sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns, and qualification of members of the House of Representatives.”
