Special election for
Samar 2nd District may be called to choose a new House Representative
By CHITO DELA TORRE,
delatorrechito@yahoo.com
February 8, 2011
There could be a
special election for Member of the House of Representatives to
represent the Second District of Samar province. Yes?
The likelihood of a
special election could come about only if and when the House of
Representatives Electoral Tribunal or HRET of the Lower Chamber of the
Philippine Congress decides in favor of a petition that has already
been filed with it to disqualify sitting member Milagrosa “Mila” Tee
Tan, former 3-termer governor of Samar who was proclaimed by as winner
in the May 2010 congressional election in the Second District of that
province.
Mila won over former
Basey, Samar mayor attorney Wilfredo “Didi” O. Estorninos and other
hopefuls, was proclaimed as duly elected member of the House of
Representatives, took her oath of office as such member, and has since
been doing her job as congresswoman.
The HRET could do
either of only two things: decide against Mila based on grounds raised
in that petition or sustain her election as House member. If the
latter prevails, Mila could continue with her legislative functions
and duties until the end of her term. Such ruling would be equal to
saying she has never been disqualified from the time the Comelec
received her certificate of candidacy for Representative.
If the House rules in
favor of the petition, then it will proclaim Mila as disqualified.
With that, the House will declare as vacant the seat of Member for the
Second District of Samar. The vacancy would be followed by the
enactment a law, or a passage of resolution, calling for a special
election.
As to when this can
happen, only the Lower House can decide.
The disqualification
petition was filed with the HRET because this body alone has the sole
and exclusive jurisdiction thereon. Does the Commission on Elections
have a prior jurisdiction? Not anymore. The Comelec’s authority
stopped right after the winner in the May 2010 congressional election
was declared. Had a petition been filed with the Comelec to
disqualify Tan after her proclamation won in that election for the
Second District of Samar, it could have been dismissed outright by
that body, for reason of lack of jurisdiction.
The ground offered for
the disqualification of Tan, to stop her from working a day longer in
the House of Representatives in whose turf she is one of its honorable
legislators, is that she was allegedly “disqualified” to run for
Member of the House of Representatives right from the moment her
certificate of candidacy for that position was filed with the Comelec.
A highly reliable source in the Liberal Party said that she was
“disqualified” because she did not meet the basic qualification which
was to be a natural-born citizen of the Philippines. Much, much
earlier, it was bruited about that Mila was born to a Chinese national
and years later was “naturalized”. The Philippine Constitution
requires that only a natural-born citizen can run for Congress,
according to the source. Requesting anonymity, the source said that
even if Mila was allowed under the Constitution as a naturalized
Filipino citizen, to run for Congress, still she must be disqualified
because of her alleged failure to take her “oath of allegiance” to the
Philippine flag, the Philippine government, and the Philippine
Constitution.
It was, however,
alleged by another source that Mila, or her lawyers, relied heavily on
her “naturalization” via her business permits and licenses for her
businesses in the Philippines, particularly in Samar, for which,
through her applications therefore, she declared or entered her
citizenship as “Filipino”.
QN’s source said, that
was not legally enough because the constitutional requirement must
first be satisfied. Even the oath of allegiance as Filipino must be
accompanied by certification about that fact of that oath having been
made and taken, the source said.
As of this writing,
Tan has not yet filed her answer to the petition. When done, the
petitioner and respondent would be submitting their respective
memorandum. From there, the HRET will render its verdict.
Whatever will be the
result of the HRET’s decision, either of the affected party can go to
the Supreme Court for a final relief.
With the special
election possibility brewing, eyes are on Atty. Estorninos. Since he
landed, according to the election proclamation at the provincial
level, second to Tan, many are now entertaining the belief that he
should join the race in order to win. Some of them, earlier, had said
that had Tan be disqualified even before her name could be entered by
the Comelec in the list of candidates in the official sample ballot,
Tan’s name would not have never been read even if appearing in the
ballots, or if read, every vote for her could have been considered
invalid or stray and therefore not counted. The walking rumors said
that had the early disqualification taken place at all, Didi could
have been the one proclaimed as winner, he having obtained the most
number of votes over his rivals. And then Didi could have been
congressman for the first time since noon time of June 30, 2010, and
perhaps he could already have introduced, or been introducing, the
reforms and kinds of development that he promised during his campaign
of which vigilant Samarnons cannot yet see from the sitting
congresswoman after more than seven months and for more than seven
months now.
