Macalintal: Yedda’s 4th term in Congress a ‘mockery’ of electoral process

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THE country’s electoral process is being mocked if the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) allowing Yedda Romualdez to assume office as the third nominee of the Tingog Party-list in the incoming 20th Congress is not challenged before the Supreme Court or the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal, according to veteran election lawyer Atty. Romulo Macalintal.

Yedda, the wife of House Speaker Martin Romualdez, first served as Leyte District Representative from 2016 to 2019, then as a Tingog Party-list Representative from 2019 to 2022, and again from 2022 to 2025, completing her three consecutive terms.

Comelec allowed Romualdez to return on the grounds that she only served twice as a party-list representative, and that her term as district representative should not be counted when determining the three-term limit.

However, Macalintal disagreed, pointing out that Article VI, Section 7 of the 1987 Constitution clearly intends that a member of the House of Representatives may only serve “three consecutive terms,” regardless of whether the post is as a district or party-list representative.

Macalintal emphasized that Comelec Chairman George Garcia’s move needs clarification because it sets a “bad precedent.” According to him, the intent of the Constitution is to limit terms in office, but Comelec’s decision could lead to “forever” in power.

“What will happen now is that someone could serve three terms as a District Representative, then simply shift to a Party-list to serve another three terms,” Macalintal explained in a local radio interview.

Macalintal also criticized the Comelec for failing to investigate the resignation of the three Tingog nominees.

In a July 16 resolution, Comelec accepted the resignations of the third, fourth and fifth Tingog nominees: Marie Josephine Diana Calatrava, Alexis Yu and Paul Muncada.

Yu and Muncada have resigned after being given new internal positions within the Tingog Partylist, while Calatrava stepped down due to “personal reasons.”

Calatrava, Tingog’s third nominee, is the sister of Romualdez and the husband of Terence Calatrava whose resignation as presidential assistant for the Visayas was recently accepted by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Tingog won three congressional seats in the May 2025 elections. Those now seated as representatives are Andrew Julian Romualdez, the eldest son of the Romualdez couple, and Rep. Jude Acidre.

Macalintal said Comelec failed in its duty by not thoroughly investigating the “mass resignation” of Tingog’s nominees.

“They just accepted the resignations without any investigation. They should have looked into the reasons behind them, [and] whether there was political pressure,” Macalintal said.

He explained that while party-lists used to submit only five nominees, Comelec increased the number to 10 in the last elections specifically to avoid scenarios involving mass resignations or unqualified nominees.

In the case of Tingog’s resignations, Macalintal stressed that the Comelec should have done its job and conducted a proper investigation.