CEBU CITY – Zamboanga del Norte Rep. Romeo Jalosjos Jr. thanked a fellow lawmaker for standing up for him after he was delisted from the roll of members in the 19th Congress.
Jalosjos thanked Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace S. Barbers not just for standing up for him but also for the Nacionalista Party where they both belong.
“I am very much thankful. He saw the seriousness of the matter, the gravity of the situation that the Secretary General can delist a proclaimed congressman on his own,” Jalosjos said in a statement.
Jalosjos clarified that he is not questioning the leadership of Congress but he is “questioning the actuation of the Secretary General.”
Last Dec. 15, Barbers raised parliamentary inquiries where he questioned the delisting of Jalosjos in the congressional record.
In his speech, Barbers asked if the Secretary General elected during the 18th Congress still hold office beyond constitutional term and on what constitutional or legal authority did he exercise his being a de facto Secretary General.
Barbers also raised the question what power he is allowed to exercise and whether the de facto Secretary General can delist any member after June 30 from the roll of duly elected representatives for the incoming Congress.
Jalosjos was proclaimed winner in the May elections but a Supreme Court (SC) status quo ante order has been issued following his declaration.
The SC granted the plea of Roberto “Pinpin” Uy Jr., Jalosjos’ rival in the last elections, to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from crediting the 5,424 votes of Frederico Jalosjos to Jalosjos Jr. after declaring Frederico as a nuisance candidate.
Uy told the SC that he earned 69,591 votes while Jalosjos Jr. got 69,109 votes but his proclamation was stopped by the Comelec pending the resolution of Jalosjos Jr.’s petition to declare Frederico as a nuisance candidate.
Barbers cited Section 4 of the House of Representatives Rules that in cases where a candidate has been proclaimed winner by the Comelec and the validity of the proclamation is put in question, the proclaimed candidate shall remain a member of the House.
Barbers added that "nowhere in our Constitution and our thousands of laws can we find the protestors giving relief to the House's de facto Secretary General, who can exercise the power to subvert the will of the people who elected us and arrogate upon himself the powers reserved to this House.”