Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 10) —The Commission on Election (Comelec) on Friday proclaimed Roberto ‘Pinpin’ Uy Jr. as representative of the first legislative district of Zamboanga del Norte.
The move was in line with the Supreme Court ruling in August that invalidated Comelec’s proclamation of Romeo Jalosjos Jr. The high court declared Uy as winner of the 2022 congressional race saying the poll body’s previous decision was issued with “grave abuse of discretion.”
“Ito na po it’s my honor at na-proclaim na po talaga ang tunay na panalo. So masaya po ako, pasalamat po ako sa Comelec na nirespeto nila ang desisyon ng Korte Suprema,” Uy told reporters after his proclamation.
[Translation: It’s an honor to finally be proclaimed as the real winner. I’m happy and thankful to the Comelec for respecting the decision of the Supreme Court.]
He also vowed to work double time to serve his constituents and make up for the lost time.
House Majority Leader Mannix Dalipe was named caretaker of the first district of Zamboanga del Norte in November last year.
Uy was not proclaimed in May despite garnering the most votes (69,591) in the congressional race in the 2022 elections.
He won against Romeo Jalosjos Jr., Frederico ‘Kuya Jan’ Jalosjos and Richard Amazon, who received 69,109 votes, 5,424 votes, and 288 votes, respectively.
However, the Comelec proclaimed R. Jalosjos as the winner after it declared F. Jalosjos as a nuisance candidate and credited all his votes to R. Jalosjos.
It gave R. Jalosjos a slim victory in the 2022 polls.
Uy questioned this decision before the Supreme Court since his proclamation was suspended.
The Supreme Court issued an order in July to stop Romeo Jalosjos Jr. from assuming the congressional post a few weeks after he took office.
The court said it found that Comelec’s decision to tag F. Jalosjos as a nuisance candidate is solely based on the alleged erroneous use of a nickname without considering his membership in a political party and the clear difference in their names on the official ballots.
Comelec spokesperson Rex Laudiangco explained why the proclamation was done nearly three months after the SC decision came out.
“Bagamat ito ay nadesisyunan ng Korte Suprema, ang copy po ng Comelec ay natanggap lamang namin noong October 19. At kasagsagan po ng halalan noon,” he said.
[Translation: This was the decision of the Supreme Court, and we received the copy from Comelec just now.]
Laudiangco said the Comelec instructed the immediate issuance of the notices in compliance with the rules and procedures for the proclaimed winner.
He also said the poll body accepted the high court’s ruling that it committed a grave abuse of discretion and its position on other issues.
“Yun pong ating automated elections talaga, isa sa feature niyan is malinaw ang distinction ng pangalan. So kung meron man pong made-declare na nuisance candidate o hindi ay madali po ma-separate ng ating mga kababayan yan at hindi po makakalito,” Laudiangco explained.
[Translation: That’s our automated elections, one of its features is the clear distinction of names. So that if there will be a declared nuisance candidate, the voters will be able to easily separate them and will not cause confusion.]
He also said Comelec has no power to suspend the proclamation on the basis of a nuisance candidate.
The camp of R. Jalosjos filed last week an appeal before the high court, seeking to reverse the invalidation of his proclamation.
The Comelec said this is out of its hands since the plea was not filed before the commission.
Uy’s camp remained optimistic that it will be able to hurdle this new legal battle.
“Inulit lang naman nila yung arguments doon sa original case…. But nonetheless again we are very confident na once again mananalo kami sa Supreme Court not just once but twice,” Uy’s lawyer Emil Marañon said.
[Translation: They just repeated their arguments like in the original case. Nonetheless, we are very confident that we will once again be proclaimed by the Supreme Court, not just once but twice.]
