Justice delayed, and justice almost denied to Marinduque solon
With barely less than five months to perform his official functions in the House of Representatives, my former student, Lord Allan Velasco, whom I taught law courses in UST in the nineties, has finally been vindicated by the Supreme Court as the rightful and properly elected congressman of the lone district of Marinduque. That is what I always told him when I mentored him in the college of law, that the wheels of justice in this country grinds exceedingly slow, but it grinds exceedingly well. He should know that by heart. His father, Justice Presbitero Velasco, is the senior associate justice of the Supreme Court, next only to the Chief Justice and to the most senior associate, Antonio Carpio. At the end of the day, they cannot put a good man down. Lord Allan is a very good man.
He was the incumbent solon representing that district. He was challenged in the 2013 elections by a US citizen, who must have known very well that she was not a Filipino citizen, thus unqualified. But she is a scion of the most influential and most politically-entrenched family in that province. The House Electoral Tribunal whose members were mostly belonging to the party of Lord Allan's opponent allegedly used all forms of maneuvers, dilatory tactics, and technical and legalistic gobbledygook just to prevent Allan from being allowed to claim his seat. Even a freshman pre-law student knows that an unqualified candidate cannot participate much less win in an election. All the votes in her favor were stray votes. Thus, the only qualified bet was Lord Allan Velasco.
Why is the Philippine justice system too inefficient, too inept, and too dilatory? If they can do this to a son of a Supreme Court justice, they can very well inflict heavier damage to the least, the lost, the last, the powerless, and the uninfluential. In as press statement, the Highest court of the land, voting 8:1 with six abstentions, ordered the House of the Representatives to administer the oath of office of Congressman Lord Allan Velasco and to register his name in the roll of members of the Lower Chamber. The name of Regina Ongsiako-Reyes, his opponent, shall then be deleted. Lord Allan will join his mother, a party list congresswoman herself.
The High Court "found that petitioner Velasco was entitled to the writ of mandamus because the finality of the court's much earlier ruling and the COMELEC's resolutions left no issue as to who is the rightful representative of the lone district of the province. For this reason, the administration of the oath to Velasco by the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the registration of his name in the rolls of the House by the Secretary General were ministerial duties compellable by mandamus." This is the only legal, proper and just and reasonable step to take. This is too delayed already, and the de facto congresswoman had already used more than eighty per cent of the term of this set of members of the House.
The Justices who voted in favor of the ruling were Chief Justice Ma Lourdes Sereno, Associate Justices Antonio Carpio, Teresita Leonardo-de Castro, Lucas Bersamin, Martin Villarama Jr, Jose Perez, Bienvenido Reyes and Marvic Leonen. The lone dissenter was Justice Arturo D Brion. Those who inhibited were Justices Presbitero Velasco, the father of Lord Allan, Diosdado Peralta, Mariano del Castillo, Jose Mendoza, Estela Perlas-Bernabe, and Francis Jardeleza.The House earlier recognized Velasco's opponent despite the earlier ruling of the Supreme Court disqualifying her for not being a natural-born citizen (Senator Grace Poe, take note). Now the House must obey the rule of law.
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