The decision to scrap retired poll commissioner Rowena Guanzon’s substitution as P3PWD party-list nominee in 2022 has paved the way for clearer guidelines on how the Party-list Law should be amended, the Commission on Elections on Sunday said.
Comelec chairman George Garcia said the poll body will make use of the Supreme Court’s decision to push for amendments on the existing policies on party-list groups, specifically when it comes to the substitution of nominees.
“We will make a way to push for the amendment of our existing policies on party-list groups, especially on the issue of the substitution of nominees as it happens after or before the elections,” Garcia said.
“We welcome the decision because it gave us guidance on things that used to be gray areas or subject to different interpretations,” he added.
Earlier, the SC granted the petition of the Duterte Youth party-list against Guanzon as the first nominee of P3PWD party-list which won a seat in the 2022 elections.
The SC said it nullified Comelec Minute Resolution No. 22-0774, which had approved the post-election substitution of P3PWD.
The High Court said the Comelec resolution was issued with “grave abuse of discretion” as far as the approved substitution of nominees of P3PWD beyond the Comelec’s deadline.
It also declared the temporary restraining order against Guanzon issued on June 29, 2022 as permanent.
“The decision is immediately executory,” the court said in the decision penned by Associate Justice Ricardo Rosario.
The court noted there was a pattern of “whimsicality and arbitrariness” in the way the approving commissioners acted upon the substitution of P3PWD’s nominees.
Also declared null and void were the nominations of Rosalie Garcia, Cherie Belmonte-Lim, Donnabel Tenorio and Rodolfo Villar.
