BY GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Feisty former Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon appears to be heading towards a seat in the 19th Congress as a representative of the P3PWD party-list group.
The Commission on Elections formally named Guanzon as the first nominee of winning party-list group P3PWD.
Comelec acting spokesman John Rex Laudiangco however said that the move is still “subject to the deliberation of the Commission en banc.”
The Comelec earlier granted and approved the withdrawal of five original P3PWD nominees: Grace Yeneza, Ira Paulo Pozon, Marianne Heidi Cruz Fullon, Peter Jonas David, and Lily Grace Tiangco.
The 5 original nominees were replaced by Guanzon and 4 others, namely Rosalie Garcia, Cherrie Belmonte-Lim, Donnabel Tenorio and Rodolfo Villar Jr.
Yeneza, who had already taken her oath of office for the P3PWD party-list, earlier said she is resigning due to her daughter’s condition, “It would not be fair to our Party List’s constituents for me to carry on sitting as their representative in Congress if I cannot give my full attention to the job at hand,” she added.
According to Comelec Resolution 10717, there will be “no substitution shall be valid if filed beyond Nov. 15, 2021 unless the list of nominees originally submitted has been exhausted due to death and/or incapacity.”
The Party-List Systems Act, however, provides that party-list groups who have been given seats in Congress may still submit new set of nominees “in case of vacancy.”
The entry of Guanzon, who hails from Cadiz City, to the 19th Congress, brings to eight the numbers of solons from Negros Occidental, including Abang Lingkod Rep. Stephen Joseph Paduano, Reps. Gerardo Valmayor, Alfredo Marañon III, Jose Francisco Benitez, Juliet Ferrer, Dino Yulo, Mercedes Alvarez and Greg Gasataya.*
