Stephen Paduano (Carapali Lualhati) takes his oath as Abang Lingkod partylist representative before House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte (left) as his wife, Lalaine, looks on.
Negros Occidental now has another representative in Congress.
Stephen Paduano, alias Carapali Lualhati , former national commander of the Revolutionary Proletarian Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB), finally took his oath as Abang Lingkod partylist representative before House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte yesterday.
Paduano was proclaimed congressman after the Supreme Court rejected the Commission on Elections motion for reconsideration and ruled with finality that Abang Lingkod was a winner in the May 2013 polls, Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez (Neg. Occ., 3 rd District), who joined the oath- taking rites yesterday, said.
Abang Lingkod, a sectoral organization representing farmers and fisherfolk, obtained 260,215 votes during the May elections, entitling it to a seat in the House of Representatives.
The Comelec on May 10, 2013, had cancelled the registration of AB, and disallowed its participation in the May 13 elections of the same year.
The SC, in a decision promulgated October 22, reversed and set aside the Comelec ruling, saying it gravely abused its discretion when it insisted on requiring AB to provide its track record even if that is no longer required.
Upholding the cancellation of AB's registration, even if it was able to obtain sufficient number of votes for a legislative seat, would serve no purpose other than to subvert the will of the electorate who voted to give it the privilege to represent them in the House of Representatives, the SC also said.
The Comelec filed a motion for reconsideration and refused to proclaim AB a winner, but the SC, on the last week of February this year, upheld its ruling with finality, Paduano said.
The Comelec thereafter issued a certificate of proclamation that resulted in his oathtaking yesterday, Paduano added.
Paduano, 49, who is from Negros Occidental, joined the New People's Army in 1982, and rose through the ranks. When his group split from the NPA in 1997, they formed the Rebolusyonaryong Partido ng Manggagawa-Pilipinas with the RPA-ABB as its armed wing, which has since entered into a peace agreement with the government.
Paduano resigned as RPA-ABB national commander in June 2012 to campaign for the AB partylist group, of which he was first nominee.
As congressman he will work for the interest of the peasant farmers and fisherfolk whom his partylist group represents, Paduano said.
He said Benitez has promised him membership in the House Committee on Urban Planning and Housing, which he chairs.
But he also hopes to become a member of the committees on agriculture, agrarian reform, and peace and reconciliation to look out for the groups he represents, Paduano said.
Benitez said Paduano's joining Congress will mean more sectoral representation for Western Visayas.
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