Yedda Romualdez joins 20th Congress under Tingog party-list

Tingog party-list Rep. Yedda Romualdez — Photo from Yedda Romualdez/Facebook

MANILA, Philippines — Yedda Romualdez, wife of House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez, will join the 20th Congress as she returns as one of the top nominees of Tingog party-list.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman George Erwin Garcia on Friday said Romualdez, who was the sixth nominee of the party, will assume as one of representatives of the sectoral party-list.

Election law provides that a party-list group could only win up to three seats.

However, Garcia said the third, fourth, and fifth nominees of the party-list “either resigned” and  “had a conflict of interest” which is against their constitutional bylaws, leading to their removal.

“The action of their policymaking body, the board of directors, said that since the third, fourth, and fifth [nominees] were gone, the number six should get the seat,” Garcia said in Filipino in an ambush interview.

Marie Josephine Diana Calatrava, Alexis V. Yu and Paul Richard Muncada were Tingog’s third, fourth, and fifth nominees, respectively.

Calatrava resigned due to “personal reason” while Yu and Muncada were elected as Tingog’s executive vice president and vice president for internal affairs, which led to their removal from the nominees per the party-list’s bylaws.

This reason was revealed by the memorandum of Comelec law department director Sittie Maimona Azisa G.L. Tawagon, citing letters from the House of Representatives and the party-lists.

Garcia is expected to issue a certificate of proclamation to Romualdez. 

Tingog party-list ’s first nominee is Andrew Julian Romualdez, son of Yedda and Martin, while its second nominee is Jude Acidre. 

Tingog is among the three party-list groups who got three seats in this year’s midterm elections.

READ: Akbayan tops party list race; Bayan Muna faces delisting

/das /gsg