SC sets oral arguments vs Guanzon’s party-list substitution

MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has set on Nov. 14 the oral arguments for a petition against former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Rowena Guanzon as a substitute nominee for a party-list group for persons with disabilities (PWDs).

The oral arguments will be held from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the SC’s main building.

The petition, filed by the Duterte Youth party-list group in June 2022, asked the SC to review the Comelec’s decision to allow the substitution.

It also asked the High Court to issue an order to stop the poll body from issuing Guanzon a certificate of proclamation and for the House of Representatives to keep Guanzon and any other substitutes for the P3PWD party-list from sitting as a member until the plea is resolved.

The Comelec previously approved via a majority vote the request of P3PWD to withdraw the nomination of its original roster, namely Grace Yeneza, Ira Paulo Pozon, Marianne Heidi Cruz Fullon, Peter Jonas David and Lily Grace Tiangco.

The poll body also granted and approved the new list of nominees that named Guanzon as its first nominee; Rosalie Garcia as second; Cherrie Belmonte-Lim, third; Donnabel Tenorio, fourth, and Rodolfo Villar Jr., fifth.

The Duterte Youth questioned the validity of Guanzon’s substitution of the party-list’s original nominees, saying the deadline for such a move was set by Comelec Resolution No. 9366 on Nov. 15, 2021.

Guanzon’s substitution was filed in June, past election day on May 9, 2022, when substitution due to the death or incapacity of the original nominees would have been allowed until midday.

Among the issues that will be tackled during the oral arguments is whether the Comelec committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in approving the substitution of all the P3PWD nominees.

It will also tackle whether Guanzon, who was a Comelec commissioner at the time of the approval of P3PWD’s registration as a party-list, was an eligible substitute nominee of the party-list.

“Finally, as discussed during the preliminary conference, all parties and their counsels are strictly prohibited from publicly commenting on the issues of these consolidated cases,”