Former Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban
said yesterday the decision of the Supreme Court (SC) on the case of Rep. Lord
Allan Jay Q. Velasco “should be followed immediately by House Speaker Feliciano
Belmonte Jr. because by its terms it is ‘immediately executory.’”
Panganiban, who was chief justice from 2005
to 2007, said “the SC precisely took into account the few remaining months of
the term of the position involved which is member of the House of
Representatives.”
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| Belmonte - Velasco |
“In other words, time is of the essence,” he
pointed out.
He joined two legal luminaries who said that
the House leadership, particularly Belmonte, is mandated to implement the
swearing in of Velasco and the inclusion of his name in the Roll of Members.
In an earlier interview, former Integrated
Bar of the Philippines (IBP) president Vicente Joyas and former University of
the East law dean Amado Valdez had said that House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte
Jr. should honor and implement the SC ruling granting Velasco’s plea for
mandamus.
Voting 8-1 in a decision released last
January 12, the SC ruled that Belmonte and House secretary general Marilyn
Barua-Yap “are legally duty-bound to recognize Velasco as the duly elected
Member of the House of Representatives for the Lone District of Marinduque in
view of the ruling rendered by this Court and the Comelec’s (Commission on
Elections) compliance with the said ruling, now both final and executory.”
As of this writing, Regina Ongsiako Reyes who
had been disqualified as a candidate in a final ruling by the Comelec and which
ruling had been upheld by the SC in a final decision, is still listed in No.
225 as the member of House of Representatives representing the lone district of
Marinduque.
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| Former SC Chief Justice Artemio V. Panganiban |
MANDATORY
“Precisely, too, the SC wanted the judgment
to be immediately executory which partakes the nature of a mandatory injunction
which is also immediately executory,” Panganiban said.
“While the fallo of the decision may not be
final yet, the mandatory injunction contained in the decision is immediately
executory even prior to the finality of the decision. In the same manner, a
preliminary injunction is immediately executory even without a final judgment
yet,” he stressed.
Panganiban noted that the case filed by
Velasco before the SC was for mandamus against Belmonte and Barua-Yap. “Thus,
when the SC ruled in favor of Velasco with the issuance of a mandatory
injunction, the House leadership has no choice but to implement the ruling.”
“On the reverse, a temporary restraining order
or a status quo ante order is immediately executory so as not to render the
case moot and academic,” he added.
The final decision of the SC is part of the
law of the land under Article 8 of the Civil Code.
Thus, several lawyers who requested anonymity,
said that Speaker Belmonte “must uphold the Rule of Law in the country.”
“The House Speaker and other House leaders
are not above the law and they are bound to implement the same,” they said.
ANARCHY
“If the House of Representatives will not
comply with the SC decision, the losing parties in civil cases and convicts in
criminal cases can also ask that the SC’s decisions should not be executed
against them and that would be the start of anarchy and breakdown of peace and
order,” they added.
The SC’s January 12 ruling stated that the
administration of the oath and the registration of Velasco as the duly-elected
congressman for Marinduque “are no longer a matter of discretion or judgment”
on the part of House Speaker Belmonte.
The dispositive portion of the decision
stated:
“WHEREFORE, the Petition for Mandamus is
GRANTED. Public respondent Hon. Feliciano R. Belmonte, Jr., Speaker, House of
Representatives, shall administer the oath of office of petitioner Lord Allan
Jay Q. Velasco as the duly-elected Representative of the Lone District of the
Province of Marinduque. And public respondent Hon. Marilyn B. Barua-Yap,
Secretary General, House of Representatives, shall register the name of
petitioner Lord Allan Jay Q. Velasco in the Roll of Members of the House of
Representatives after he has taken his oath of office. This Decision shall be
IMMEDIATELY EXECUTORY.”
Thus, the SC said “it is well past the time
for everyone concerned to accept what has been adjudicated and take judicial
notice of the fact that Regina Ongsiako Reyes’ ineligibility to run for and be
elected to the subject position had already been long affirmed by this Court.”
“Any ruling deviating from such established
ruling will be contrary to the Rule of Law and should not be countenanced,” the
SC warned. - Rey G. Panaligan, Manila Bulletin
