Romeo Jalosjos Jr., the president and chief executive officer of Television and Production Exponents Inc. has expressed opposition to the proclamation of his rival as representative of the First District of Zamboanga del Norte as he raised the issue of the legitimacy of the 19th Congress before the Supreme Court.

On 6 October, Jalosjos filed before the Supreme Court a comment and opposition to the motion filed by Roberto Uy Jr. for the Commission on Elections to proclaim him as the winner of the May 2022 polls as Zamboanga del Norte First District's representative.

To recall, the Supreme Court on 8 August ordered the Comelec to proclaim Uy after it annulled the proclamation of Jalosjos, who challenged the SC ruling.

In his comment and opposition with motion to set the case of oral arguments he filed before the SC, Jalosjos said proclaiming Uy "will ultimately result in an absurd situation considering that the instant case is still pending before this Honorable Supreme Court."

"Furthermore, this will gravely affect Private Respondent's Jalosjos' recourse to file a Motion for Reconsideration as his prayer for reversal [of the SC decision] will have no value anymore and thus, considered nonsensical," it added.

Jalosjos maintained that he was already proclaimed by Comelec as the winner of the May 2022 election and took his oath of office as Zamboanga City First District representative.

He stressed that the SC has no jurisdiction over the case and it belongs to the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal which is the "sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns and qualifications of their respective members."

In the decision, according to the SC PIO, "the Court also ruled that the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal has no jurisdiction over the case, since it acquires jurisdiction only when all of the following requisites are met: (1) a valid proclamation; (2) a proper oath; and (3) assumption of office. In the case of R. Jalosjos, he did not take an oath of office before the Speaker of the House in open session, which bars him from performing his functions. Neither has R. Jalosjos assumed office. Thus, the requisites that vest HRET jurisdiction are not present."

Jalosjos refuted the ruling, adding that he had fulfilled the three important requisites for the HRET to take over his case.

"To require an oath before the Speaker of the House in open session for a proclaimed candidate to become a member of the House will lead to absurdity. Under the Constitution, the Speaker of the House must be elected by majority votes of its members. If there are no members prior to oath before the Speaker, who will elect the Speaker? How can a member be nominated as speaker if he himself is not yet a member of the House?" according to Jalosjos.

He added that the ruling has set a constitutional issue on the terms and legitimacy of the 19th Congress and its members.

"Since the members of the House of Representatives must first convene and elect the Speaker on the 4th Monday of July, the members of the House should have already taken an oath of office on or at noon of the 30th day of June since the term of their respective offices commences on the 30th of June and not on 4th of July," Jalosjos said.

"Thus, from noon of June 30 until the 4 th Monday of July, the Members of the house have already assumed their respective offices in order to validly cast their votes for the election of the Speaker. Additionally, the oath before the Speaker of the House is a mere formality since the Rules of the House of Representatives admit that the oath of office administered by the Speaker in open session to all Members is only a ceremonial affirmation of prior and valid oaths of office administered to them by duly authorized public officers," he added.

Jalosjos also argued that with the SC ruling, it implies that the oath of Speaker Ferdinand Romualdez is invalid.

"Incidentally, it may also be argued that even the Speaker of the House, Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, took his oath on 15 June 2022 before incumbent Punong Barangay Rodolfo Padillo in Romualdez Medical Foundation Gym," said the TAPE executive.

"If the ruling will be applied in the case of Speaker Romualdez, his oath taken before Punong Barangay Padillo is invalid which should bar him from performing his functions. Moreover, following the ruling, it should not be possible for Speaker Romualdez to be elected as Speaker since there are no members who will elect him as such," said Jalosjos.