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E-mailWith Congress having only three session days left, the recently declared rightful winner of the congressional seat in the 4th district of Cebu expressed apprehension that he might not be able to assume his position as a legislator.
Liberal Party (LP) candidate Celestino Martinez said that House Speaker Prospero Nograles was deliberately delaying his oath-taking, which the latter promised to have scheduled on Monday, Jan. 25, before an open session. However, Nograles was said to have been absent due to stomach flu. No oath-taking took place the day after; neither did it take place on Wednesday.
“I'd like to believe that, being the Speaker and a lawyer, he would implement the decision of the SC and the laws that provide for such implementation. I would like to believe that this goes beyond alliances because it's about the law,” ABS-CBN News quoted Martinez as saying in a Wednesday press conference.
The Supreme Court (SC) recently ruled that the former mayor of Bogo, a municipality in Cebu, won over Benhur Salimbangon by 5000 votes in the May 2007 polls, contrary to the previous decision of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) that the displaced Cebu representative was ahead by 453 votes. Salimbangon is a Lakas-Kampi-CMD member, along with Nograles.
However, Nograles pinned the delay on some “legal obstacles” that surround the SC decision. This pertains to the motion for reconsideration filed by the Office of the Solicitor General (OCG) questioning the SC's authority to give the last word regarding poll-related protests of House members.
Martinez said that he was surprised by the sudden turnaround in the OSG's stand. Reportedly, the OSG had filed a “Manifestation and Motion” on October 2009 waiving its involvement from the election protest “as the HRET is only a nominal party to the case.”
The oath-taking that Martinez awaits is supposedly his “third oath-taking” as, according to him, he took his first upon learning about SC's declaration and the second was already administered by Nograles. According to the House Speaker, however, this was not a formal induction into the House since it is merely to acknowledge Martinez's joining of the body.
Nograles added that to be fully sworn into office, the oath-taking must take place in the plenary hall, before the House Speaker and before an open session.
Ousted Salimbangon and pending legislator Martinez are up for another Cebu congressional face-off in the May 2010 elections.
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