P3PWD sues SC to compel Romualdez to swear in Ilagan

On Monday, February 3, 2025, the Komunidad ng Pamilya, Pasyente, at Persons with Disabilities (P3PWD) Party-list asked the Supreme Court to order Speaker Martin Romualdez to allow its first nominee, Maria Camille Ilagan, to take her oath as a House member.

In a petition for mandamus and urgent application for a writ of preliminary mandatory injunction, P3PWD argued that administering the oath is a ministerial act with no room for discretion from the Speaker once a validly proclaimed nominee is ready.

Despite winning one seat in the 2022 elections and complying with an earlier Supreme Court ruling directing P3PWD to submit new nominees without renominating those whose substitutions were declared null and void, Ilagan has yet to be scheduled for her oath-taking ceremony by Romualdez.

P3PWD claims Romualdez's refusal to schedule Ilagan's oath-taking ceremony violates the democratic will of over 391,000 voters who elected them in May 2022 and deprives Ilagan and marginalized communities of their right to participate in legislative proceedings.

With only six session days remaining before Congress adjourns for a three-month campaign period on February 7, 2025, the group asserts that this delay prevents Ilagan from fully assuming her role as a representative.

P3PWD submitted new nominees on December 3, 2024, and Ilagan presented herself to the Office of the House Secretary-General with all required documents but no oath-taking has occurred before Romualdez.