Appointment ban should also cover losing party-list bets: Guanzon

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said she is looking to ask members of Congress, particularly senators to amend the law on the matter. (File Photo By Elmer B. Domingo – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

MANILA — An official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said nominees of losing party-list groups should also be covered by the one-year ban on appointment in public office.

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon said she is looking to ask members of Congress, particularly senators to amend the law on the matter.

“I am appearing in the Committee of Sen. Imee (Marcos). I will propose ban should cover Party-List nominees,” she said in her Twitter account, @commrguanzon on Thursday.

She noted that losing party-list nominees should not be treated differently from other candidates who did not win in the last elections.

“They should not be a favored class because they are not a protected class,” Guanzon added.

The poll body official was referring to the scheduled hearing of the Senate Committee on Electoral Reforms and People’s Participation on Tuesday.

Guanzon’s statement came after Mocha Uson was appointed as deputy administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

The new OWWA official was a nominee of AA Kasosyo Party-List group which failed to secure a seat in the House of Representatives in the May 2019 elections.

Earlier, the Comelec said that Uson is not covered by the one-year appointment ban.

Based on Comelec Minute Resolution No. 19-0677, the Commission en banc disputed the opinion of its Law Department that the one-year prohibition from being appointed in government applies to nominees of losing party-list groups.

“After due deliberation, the Commission resolves that the one-year prohibition from being appointed to a government position is not applicable to nominees of losing party-list groups as the nominees are not the candidates but rather the party-list itself,” said the ruling dated June 19, 2019.

Uson also served as former Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office.