SC junks bid to unseat Mikey Arroyo as party-list rep

The Supreme Court has dismissed three consolidated petitions seeking to disqualify Juan Miguel "Mikey" Arroyo, son of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as the representative for party-list group Ang Galing Pinoy. In a 19-page resolution penned by Associate Justice Arturo Brion, the court said it no longer has jurisdiction to rule on Mikey Arroyo's eligibility because he is already facing a disqualification case at the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal or HRET. Former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel filed the disqualification case against Mikey before the HRET. "We hold that the Court has no jurisdiction over the present petitions and that the HRET now has the exclusive original jurisdiction to hear and rule upon Arroyo's disqualifications as a member of the House of Representatives," said the court in the resolution promulgated last December 7. All the justices concurred with the resolution, except for Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco, who was on official leave. Those who filed the petitions against Mikey were Akbayan's Walden Bello and Loretta Ann Rosales, and former party-list representatives Satur Ocampo and Liza Maza. Bello and Rosales said Mikey was not eligible to sit as party-list representative because he allegedly failed to comply with Comelec Resolution 8807, which requires party-list candidates to show evidence that they are part of, or historically linked to the group they are supposed to represent. On the other hand, Ocampo and Maza alleged that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) abused its power when it allowed Mikey to sit as AGP representative. Premature But in its resolution, the SC said it dismissed Bello and Rosales' petition because it was too premature to bring the matter to the high court. "[Bello and Rosales] also violated the rule on the exhaustion of exhaustive remedies [which] provides that a party must exhaust all administrative remedies to give the administrative agency an opportunity to decide and thus prevent unnecessary and premature resort to the courts," the SC said. The high tribunal added that Bello and Rosales should have sought redress from the SC "only in cases of extreme necessity where the ordinary forms of procedure are powerless to afford relief." Comelec decision The Ang Galing Pinoy party-list group, which claims to represent security guards and tricycle drivers, got 269,009 votes in the party-list race in the May 10 elections, entitling it to one congressional seat. Last July, the Comelec allowed Mikey to sit as AGP representative, saying one does not have to belong to a marginalized sector to represent a party-list group. It said it is enough that the nominee is a member of the group. The Comelec decision prompted Bello, Rosales, Maza, Ocampo and Bayan Muna to bring the matter before the Supreme Court. Mikey had earlier insisted he deserved to sit as Ang Galing Pinoy party-list representative, saying he had met all requirements needed to represent the supposed marginalized group. Mikey was Pampanga’s 2nd district representative in the 14th Congress, a position now held by his mother, former President Arroyo. Another son of Mrs. Arroyo — Diosdado or Dato — sits as representative of Camarines Sur's first district. — RSJ/KBK, GMANews.TV