MANILA, Philippines 鈥� The Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente, at Persons with Disabilities (P3PWD) partylist before the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday moved to allow its first nominee, Maria Camille Ilagan, to take her oath as a member of the House of Representatives.
In a 40-page petition for mandamus with urgent application for the issuance of a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction, the partylist asked the SC to direct Speaker Martin Romualdez to immediately schedule, administer, and allow Ilagan to take her oath and to enter her name into the Roll of Members of the House of Representatives.
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The partylist also challenges the provisions in the lower chamber鈥檚 internal rules which grant the Speaker the power to block a qualified representative鈥檚 induction as member of the House.
鈥淚n the petition, we argue that administering this oath is purely a ministerial act, leaving no discretion for the Speaker to withhold or delay it once a party-list nominee is validly proclaimed,鈥� said one of the partylist鈥檚 legal counsel Atty. Charlene Fernandez in a chance interview.
鈥淏y unjustifiably refusing to do so, the Speaker effectively thwarts the sovereign will of over 391,000 people who voted for P3PWD during the May 2022 elections. This not only violates the fundamental right of suffrage but also deprives Ilagan and the marginalized communities she represents of the right to participate and vote on all vital legislative matters,鈥� she added.
Ilagan was one of the new nominees the PS3PWD submitted on Dec. 9, 2024 after a High Court decision which directed it to submit new nominees with the exclusion of those whose substitutions were declared null and void.
She was then proclaimed by the Commission on Elections the same day.
Thereafter, the partylist in the petition said Ilagan made multiple attempts to carry out her intention to have her ceremonial oath be administered by respondent Romualdez, but to no avail.