Singson officially no longer Ilocos Sur congressman

(Updated 7:22 p.m.) Ronald Singson is officially no longer a member of the House of Representatives after Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Monday ordered the convicted drug trafficker’s name to be dropped from the rolls. "I hereby instruct the Secretary General to drop his name from the rolls," Belmonte announced at the start of the day's plenary session. Singson, son of Ilocos Sur Governor Luis "Chavit" Singson, used to represent the province's first district at the House. Last month, Singson was convicted to a year and a half in prison by the Wan Chai District Court in Hong Kong for carrying drugs to the Chinese territory’s airport. He then tendered his resignation in a letter addressed to Belmonte, saying he reached the "painful decision" to quit his post in keeping with the "time-honored tradition" of Congress that ensures that its members come “with clean hands, clean minds and clean hearts." The letter, dated Feb. 28, was faxed by Singson's lawyer — John Reading — to Belmonte's office at 3:40 p.m. on March 1. Despite Singson’s resignation, the number of House members remains at 283 because the dropping of his name from the rolls coincided with the swearing in of a new party-list representative, 1-UTAK’s Homero Mercado. Singson became the second representative in the history of the House of Representatives to quit his post after being convicted of a crime. In August 1990, then Nueva Ecija Rep. Nicanor de Guzman Jr. tendered his resignation due to gun smuggling charges before a Pasay City court. — Andreo Calonzo/RSJ/KBK, GMA News