Appointive officials who are party-list nominees must resign—Comelec

Appointive officials who are the nominees of party-list organizations must resign upon their acceptance of the nomination, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Friday. "They're not considered the party-list nominees until they accept the nomination. If they accept the nomination today, they are considered resigned today," said Comelec Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal. He cited Resolution 8769, which says that party-list nominees who are holding public appointive office shall be considered ipso facto resigned upon acceptance of their nomination. Reyes as 1-UTAK nominee? Larrazabal issued the statement after reports came out that Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes is supposedly being eyed as one of the nominees of party-list group 1-UTAK. And unlike his fellow cabinet members running for elective posts, he wouldn't have to resign because he has yet to formally accept any nomination from any party-list group. Party-list groups running in the May polls have until March 26 to give the names of their five nominees to the Comelec. On the other hand, Larrazabal said that the poll body cannot force elected officials who are probable party-list nominees—like Pampanga Rep. Miguel “Mikey" Macapagal-Arroyo—to resign from their posts. Resolution 8769 says that nominees who are holding elective office may continue to hold their position even after the acceptance of their nomination. Five party-list groups 'want' Mikey The young Arroyo said that at least five party-list groups have expressed their intention to nominate him as their first or second nominee to the House of Representatives. But Larrazabal said he was quite sure that Arroyo's nomination would gain a lot of opposition so he would rather not comment on the issue. "Honestly, it would be difficult for me to comment on that. I don't want to preempt any action that we might take," he said. Meanwhile, the one-year prohibition from being hired or rehired to public office after failing to win in an election shall not apply to the party-list nominees. About 187 groups will be vying for the party-list vote in the May polls. A voter is allowed to vote for only one party-list group. The Comelec Law Department said that it cannot release a list of party-list nominees until the March 26 deadline has passed. —JV, GMANews.TV