New 1-UTAK party-list representative sworn in

A nominee of the transport group United Transport Coalition (1-UTAK) was officially sworn in as a member of the House of Representatives on Monday, nearly a month after the death of its first nominee, former military chief Angelo Reyes. Engineer Homero Mercado became a member of the lower chamber on Monday after the Commission on Elections (Comelec), acting as the National Board of Canvassers, issued a resolution last week allowing him to assume the post. Reyes, the first nominee of 1-UTAK party-list, was disqualified by the Comelec last year, saying he is not a true representative of the transport sector. Reyes then elevated the case to the Supreme Court, but his petition was dismissed for being moot and academic after he committed suicide last month. The number of House members remains at 283 representatives even after Mercado was sworn in, since his assumption of his post coincided with the removal of another congressman, Ronald Singson, from the lower chamber’s rolls. – VVP, GMA News