Guanzon named 1st nominee of P3WD party-list

The Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente at Persons with Disabilities or P3PWD Party-list on Tuesday named retired elections commissioner Rowena Guanzon as its new first nominee after the original five designees of the group tendered their resignation.

The P3PWD party-list submitted several documents to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) Law Department at around 1:00 in the afternoon Tuesday, according to the information disclosed by acting poll spokesperson Rex Laudiangco.

Among the documents submitted by the party-list group are the notarized board resolution of the P3PWD relative to the resignation of new nominees and the acceptance of new nominees signed by its Secretary-General.  Also handed to the poll body are the notarized resignation letters of its original nominees namely Grace Yeneza, Ira Paulo Pozon, Marianne Heidi Cruz Fullon, Peter Jonas R David, and Lily Grace Tiangco.

The P3PWD also submitted the certificate of nomination, listing the names of its new nominees "in the following order;" Ma. Rowena Amelia V. Guanzon, Rosalie Garcia, Cherrie Belmonte-Lim; Donnabel Tenorio, and Rodolfo Villar Jr.

The papers which were submitted to change the roster of P3PWD party-list nominees, however, are still subject to the deliberation of the commission en banc, the Comelec said.

The P3PWD party-list, which was campaigned for by Guanzon in the 2022 national and local polls, won one seat in the House of Representatives.

Before the P3PWD party-list submitted the documents assigning Guanzon as its new first nominee, National Youth Commission (NYC) Undersecretary Ronald Cardema accused the retired poll official of forcing all the party-list group's nominees to resign so she can sit in the House of Representatives.

Guanzon had challenged Cardema to present the people whom she allegedly coerced, adding that a complaint should be lodged before the Comelec if the accusations are true.

Although she defended herself from Cardema'a accusations, Guanzon did not discount the possibility of her taking the congressional seat for the party-list group.

"'Wag po kayo mag-alala. Kahit sino naman ang umupo diyan ay karapat-dapat siya sa aming katungkulan at adbokasiya [Don't worry. Whoever sits there is worthy to be a representative and to push for our advocacy]," she said.

"Kung ako man po ang uupo diyan, karangalan ko po kung piliin nila ako at gagawin namin ang aming makakaya sa loob ng tatlong taon [It would be an honor if I will be chosen to sit there and we will do whatever we can within three years]," she added.

The retired poll official earlier explained that once a certification of proclamation is issued by the Comelec to the party-list, the party-list can decide who will be their representative if all the nominees resigned and the group submitted a new list to the poll body.—LDF, GMA News