Party-list lawmaker resigns

MANILA, Philippines - 1-Utak party-list Rep. Homer Mercado has resigned from the House of Representatives to join another party-list group.

 Mercado said he will join 1JAM or Joint Alliance of the Marginalized party-list group, which will seek a seat in Congress in the May 2013 mid-term elections.

The group has members mostly coming from the peasant sector, he said.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. confirmed Mercado’s resignation.

 He will be replaced by Zenaida Maranan, president of the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines (FEJODAP).

Mercado took his oath as member of Congress only in March last year because of a disagreement on who among the 1-Utak representatives will sit in the House.