Entry of former DAR chief as party-list representative quizzed

The entry of former Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman representing “AA Ka Sosyo party-list” in the House of Representatives was questioned yesterday on the ground that Pangandaman had deceived the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the government when he continued to be at the DAR when he should have left the agency when he joined the party-list elections.

Lawyer Salic Dumarpa, a former commissioner of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), citing Comelec Resolution 8678, said that all government officials are deemed resigned upon filing of a certificate of candidacy or in the case of a party-list group, his name is listed as one of the nominees of a party-list group.

“How was it possible for Pangandaman to stay at the DAR when his name was submitted to the Comelec as a nominee of a party-list group?” Dumarpa asked.

Nazzer Pangandaman was sworn in as a member last Monday to replace his brother, Solaiman Pangandaman.

In a letter to Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Dumarpa said that the former DAR secretary should be disqualified to represent the AA Kasosyo Party-list.

Dumarpa said that the former Arroyo administration official could not have been a candidate in the 2010 elections, stressing that he resigned as DAR chief a month after the polls.

“Accepting Pangandaman as a party-list congressman in replacement of his brother, Rep. Solaiman Pangandaman, is a mockery of the law. He must be stopped from circumventing the law for his own selfish interest,” Dumarpa said.

Solaiman has offered to resign his post to concentrate on business and migrate to the United States.

He was implicated by the Commission on Audit in a multimillion-peso agrarian reform fund anomaly in Maguindanao.

Last week, Secretary General Marilyn Yap reportedly administered Pangandaman’s oath secretly in violation of the Rules of the House which provides that a lawmaker should swear before members of the House in session.

Dumarpa said Belmonte could stop a “glaring travesty of justice and fair play” if he will reject Pangandaman’s request to undertake this last procedure of becoming a House member.

He also assailed Yap for swearing in Pangandaman who has yet to decide on whether or not he would join the House opposition headed by his former boss, Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In assailing Pangandaman’s bid to become a congressman, Dumarpa cited a Supreme Court ruling that upheld Comelec Resolution No. 8678 which considers government officials automatically resigned if he is a party-list nominee.

He explained that Pangandaman never resigned until President Aquino assigned a replacement in July, 2010.

Pangandaman was sworn in as congressman by Yap in simple ceremony at the latter’s office last week.

Lawyer Percival Peralta, chief of staff of Pangandaman, admitted that there is a possibility that the congressman-nominee will not join the House opposition which includes his son, Lanao del Sur Rep. Hussein Pangandaman.

“He has many friends in the majority,” Peralta said.

The new solon served as Arroyo’s Agrarian Reform Secretary from 2007 to 2010 although he headed DAR as its officer-in-charge in 2005 following the resignation of former Secretary Rene Villa, a member of the so-called Hyatt 10.

Pangandaman was allegedly given the Comelec approval to replace his brother through a resolution listing him as one of its nominees.

Comelec records show that AA-Kasosyo party-list is an organization which was formed to “protect and uplift the lives of farmers, fishermen and small processors/manufacturers” by assisting them in marketing their produce. –Gerry Baldo, Daily Tribune