HRET Upholds its Jurisdiction, Rejects Encroachment by Supreme Court

            The House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal rejected the Supreme Court’s encroachment into its sole and exclusive prerogative and upheld its jurisdiction over the disqualification cases against Representative Regina O. Reyes of the lone Congressional District of Marinduque Province. In a Resolution dated September 11, 2014, the HRET dismissed the petition-in-intervention of Victor Vela Sioco insofar as it sought to dismiss the disqualification cases against Rep. Reyes and for the HRET to recognize the ruling of the Supreme Court in Reyes vs. COMELEC issued last June 25, 2013.

            Echoing Section 17, Article VI of the 1987 Philippine Constitution which it deems “clear and requires no further statutory construction,” the HRET said that the “power to decide over cases involving the election, returns and qualifications of Members of the House of Representatives solely belongs to this Tribunal.” It said that the petitioners in the quo warranto cases against Rep. Reyes questioning her eligibility recognized the jurisdiction of the Tribunal when they filed the petitions with the HRET.

            The Tribunal branded as “highly illogical” and “absurd” the ruling in Reyes vs. COMELEC requiring Rep. Reyes to file a quo warranto petition with the HRET against herself such that she could not have included in her Petition with the Supreme Court against the COMELEC the issue of the validity of her proclamation and the Supreme Court could not therefore have validly ruled on said issue. The HRET observed that the “Supreme Court was only tasked if the COMELEC committed grave abuse of discretion when it issued the aforementioned resolutions,” “it was never obligated, empowered or petitioned to decide on the eligibility of Respondent (Reyes),” it “never acquired jurisdiction over the eligibility of the Respondent” and “any resolution issued by the High Court involving the eligibility of the Respondent could not overrule or undermine the exclusive and original jurisdiction of this Tribunal.”

            It declared that the “proclamation of the candidate is the operative fact that serves as the demarcation line separating the jurisdiction of the Comelec and the HRET” and it is the proclamation that “vests exclusive and original jurisdiction to the HRET, to exclusion of judicial and quasi-judicial entities including the Supreme Court.” Such exclusive and original jurisdiction includes the determination of the validity or invalidity of the proclamation of a candidate for the position of Member of the House of Representatives.

            The Tribunal observed that it is undisputed that the May 14, 2013 Resolution of the Comelec was issued one (1) days after the election and Rep. Reyes was proclaimed on May 18, 2013 before the May 14, 2013 became final and executory. Citing the case of Gonzales vs. Comelec, the Tribunal said that such proclamation of “the winning candidate disvests the COMELEC of its jurisdiction over matters pending before it at the time of the proclamation. The party questioning his qualification should now present his case in a proper proceeding before the HRET, the constitutionally mandated tribunal to hear and decide a case involving a Member of the House of Representatives with respect to the latter’s election, returns and qualifications.”

            The HRET also added that due process demands that Rep. Reyes who garnered the highest number of the votes cast during the election should be given the full opportunity to present her evidence in a court of competent jurisdiction which is the HRET. It observed that due process demands a “greater onus” on the part of the accuser to produce “competent evidence,” not merely blog entries or photocopies of documents, before she is disqualified. Neither is it satisfied by a Supreme Court ruling that extends beyond the scope of the Petition filed by Rep. Reyes, especially one that was “issued with abject haste merely 15 days from the filing of her petition for certiorari.” The Tribunal concluded that both the petitioners and the respondent are entitled to have a “final resolution” on the issue of the eligibility of Rep. Reyes by the HRET which will not be obtained by a dismissal of the petitions for quo warranto as prayed for by the intervenor.

            To do otherwise would also result in the disenfranchisement of the majority of the electorate. The Tribunal concluded that “Rather than hastily dismissing the protests and abdicate the authority, awesome responsibility and the exclusive and original jurisdiction of this Tribunal to resolve the quo warranto petitions, it is prudent, legal and just to proceed with the hearing of the petitions filed against the respondent, especially since it would be unwise for this Tribunal to be callous and lackadaisical in its determination of the merits of the petitions, considering that the results of the elections in the Lone District of Marinduque reflect the sovereign will of the people.”

            Rep. Reyes won by almost four thousand (4,000) votes in the May 2013 Congressional elections for the lone district of Marinduque Province over her closest rival, Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco, the son of Supreme Court Justice Presbitero J. Velasco, Jr..