Pangandaman nomination as party-list lawmaker legal

MANILA, Philippines - The nomination of former agrarian reform secretary Nasser Pangandaman by the AA-Kasosyo party-list in the House of Representatives is legal and sanctioned by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), his lawyer said yesterday.

Lawyer Ted Pastrana issued the statement after National Labor Relations Commission commissioner Salic Dumarpa protested Pangandaman’s oath-taking as congressman last week.

Pangandaman took the place of his brother, Solaiman, who resigned to migrate to the United States and concentrate on his business.

In his letter to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., Dumarpa said Pangandaman is disqualified to represent the AA-Kasosyo party-list because his name does not appear in the list of five nominees of the organization for the 2010 elections.

Dumarpa said Pangandaman could not have been a candidate in the 2010 congressional elections since he resigned from the Department of Agrarian Reform a month after the polls.

“Accepting Pangandaman as a party-list congressman in replacement of his brother, Rep. Solaiman Pangandaman, is a mockery of the law. He must be stopped from circumventing the law for his own selfish interest,” he said.

Pastrana, however, said Dumarpa was clearly misinformed in his protest. He said he has submitted to the office of House secretary-general Marilyn Barua-Yap a copy of the Comelec resolution declaring Pangandaman as nominee No. 2 of AA-Kasosyo, and proclaiming him as the representative of AA-Kasosyo in the House, succeeding Solaiman to serve the latter’s unexpired term.

“It is not true that Congressman Nasser Pangandaman was not listed among the nominees of the party-list group. This is a fact that could have been easily verified by checking the records of the Comelec,” Pastrana said.

He said records will show that on Feb. 9, 2011, AA-Kasosyo submitted to the Comelec Law Department the names of the new set of nominees – Pangandaman, Renato Alano, Rayman de los Angeles and William Montoya – following the resignation or withdrawal as nominees of Raynor Taroy, Percival Peralta, Rosetenn Tugaff and Juan Nepomuceno, who had chosen to simply retain their position as members of the party-list’s board of trustees.

The board was unanimous in their choice of Pangandaman, “who they believe can better represent the party in Congress,” Pastrana said.

“It is clear from the foregoing chronology of events that Congressman Nasser Pangandaman became a nominee of AA-Kasosyo more than seven months after he left his Cabinet post. It is also worth noting that while (he) was nominated in February 2011, he was not proclaimed by the Comelec until July 2011, and only after he satisfied all the requirements of the Comelec,” he said.

“Certainly, there was no undue haste in administering the oath of office on Congressman Nasser Pangandaman,” he added. – With Mayen Jaymalin