At least 34 electoral protests have been filed before the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) only two days after Congress opened its First Regular Session on Monday, it was learned Wednesday.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. of Quezon City noted that the 34 cases include the protests against the victories of Dr. Angelina Tan of the 4th District of Quezon and Rep. Regina Reyes of Marinduque province.
Tan beat the ruling Liberal Party’s (LP) Wigberto “Toby” Tañada Jr., the brother of former House Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tanada 3rd. Reyes, on the other hand, bested former Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco, the son of Supreme Court Justice Presbitero Velasco.
“There are 34 electoral protests filed in the HRET, and that includes these two [Tan and Reyes]. They remain in the official roster of the House pending the resolution of the protests against them in the HRET,” Belmonte said in an interview.
“We do hope that that these will be judiciously acted upon by the HRET,” Belmonte added.
The resolution of these cases, however, won’t certainly come fast since the House leaders is yet to complete its HRET contingent thus far.
“The members of the HRET are yet to be completed because various groups have to be there. We already have some people and we will announce them as soon as the roster is complete,” Belmonte added.
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Supreme Court have actually ruled against the election wins of Tan and Reyes, respectively.
Such rulings, however, were defied by the House because the Constitution provides that any election protest filed after the proclamation of any election winner should be solely resolved by the HRET.