MANILA, Philippines – Reviving her congressional aspirations, former Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Rowena Guanzon rambled for more than half an hour on stage after filing her certificate of nomination of acceptance for party-list group P3PWD on Sunday, October 6.

For the past six days, the poll body has been strict on its 10-minute rule for each candidate and party-list nominee, so it is unclear why Guanzon was given more than triple the speaking time.

Her party-list group had won enough votes to be entitled one seat in the 19th Congress, but a petition questioning the controversial withdrawal of all five nominees in order for her to be the new representative of the group prompted the Supreme Court to stop her from assuming the post in the House of Representatives in 2022.

“I was not able to sit because of the personal venganza (revenge) of Cardema. I’m the one who paid the highest price for supporting Leni Robredo. And you all know that!” Guanzon said, referring to the petition filed by her nemesis, former youth commission chair Ronald Cardema, with the High Court.

Guanzon backed the 2022 presidential bid of former vice president Robredo, who eventually lost to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Guanzon’s spoiled bid to use backdoor to Congress

A weak spot in the Philippines’ party-list law does not bar anyone from being part of the House even if the elections are over. A party-list group can modify its list of nominees, and bump to the top of the list a substitute who wants to be a lawmaker. Election watchdogs have said this route is prone to abuse.

Guanzon was not the only one one who attempted this method, but also Sagip Representative Rodante Marcoleta and Agimat Representative Bryan Revilla among others.

But Guanzon became at the center of this issue because she once strongly opposed Cardema’s bid to be the substitute nominee of Duterte Youth a day before the 2019 midterm elections. She had argued then that it was an “unabashed mockery and assault to democratic processes.” Three years later, she tried to use the same backdoor to Congress.

P3PWD’s House post, which expires in June 2025, remains unoccupied, a waste of seat for a group that once positioned itself as an opposition to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. should it win the 2022 party-list race.

But why didn’t just Guanzon step aside and let P3PWD restore the original list of nominees?

“The first nominee was our chair, was a polio survivor. Her daughter had stage 4 aggressive breast cancer, so she could not sit,” Guanzon said, although it is unclear why the four other original nominees also backed out are not willing to assume the post.

Firing in all directions

Guanzon’s rant covered a wide variety of topics, from serious to mundane — from the bills that she would push for if she gets elected to Congress, to bragging about the number of guns she owns.

She lamented the Ombudsman’s decision to affirm the corruption charges against her in September, which stemmed from accusations that she leaked to two media outlets details of a disqualification case against then-presidential candidate Marcos in January 2022.

Comelec Commissioner Aimee Ferolino — the ponente in the case — had alleged at the time that Guanzon was pressuring her to adopt the latter’s opinion even though the former had yet to write her ponencia.

“I pray that the Supreme Court will grant me a temporary restraining order. If not, then Paterno [Esmaquel] and Sandra Aguinaldo will go to jail with me,” she joked, referring to the Rappler and GMA reporters to whom she gave the interview, but who are not respondents in the Ombudsman case.

Guanzon is frustrated about the corruption charge, insisting that she refused bribe money even when she was in government.

“You know how many times people and litigants have tried to bribe me when I was commissioner? Many of them were drug lords. If I were corrupt, I would have accepted them long ago. The sky’s the limit, just for me to make them win. That’s why I have so many guns. Because if they can’t buy me, they’ll kill me,” she said.

In her more than 30-minute off-script rant, Guanzon also:

• claimed she is a member of an indigenous community;
• lamented the state of the country’s electoral system;
• insisted he has no personal grudge against Marcos, wished him success in improving the economy, and praised him for not surrendering to China amid the West Philippine Sea dispute;
• criticized her “friends in Congress” for having a district seat while maintaining a party-list group at the same time;
• promised to bring her bardagulan (confrontational) ways to Congress if her party-list group wins.

At times though, she still came across as calm as she listed the advocacies of her party-list group, such as:

• a 5% share for persons with disability (PWDs) in their families in the total budget of all local government units and national agencies;
• monthly pension for PWDs from the national government and first-class and second-class LGUs;
• doubling the budget for special education schools;
• full disclosure bill;
• anti-EPAL bill;
• anti-discrimination bill;
• and anti-political dynasty bill, among others.

“I could have just retired with my pension and my inheritance and goddamn you all. You deserve the government you get. Why I am here?” Guanzon said. “This is my fucking country. I’m staying here. I’m fighting for my country.” – Rappler.com