TUCP Partylist Rep.
Mendoza dares Herrera to replace him
By TUCP
July 1, 2014
QUEZON CITY – Trade
Union Congress Party (TUCP) Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza dared
former Senator Ernesto Herrera to file the necessary complaint at the
House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) if he thinks he can
replace the congressman.
Meanwhile, Mendoza announced
he will officially begin his being member of the powerful Commission
on Appointments (CA) membership today.
“I am fully prepared to work
even harder as I begin my other important role as member of the
Commission on Appointments. I am ready to take to a higher level the
promotion of the workers’ legislative agenda in congress. I am happy
that all of my labor policy proposals are being intelligently vetted
by various committees including the proposal to strengthen the
security of tenure which has been eroded to the massive
contractualization promoted by so-called labor leaders,” Mendoza said.
“With regards to Mr.
Herrera’s claim that he will replace me as TUCP party-list
representative, I encourage him to attempt it. He has been a senator
and he has been a congressman before so he knows well that
jurisdiction for such a move lies with the House of Representatives
Electoral Tribunal (HRET). Good luck to him,” Mendoza added.
Herrera issued a press
statement the other day saying he is going to replace Mendoza as TUCP
Party-list congressman following a Court of Appeals (CA) decision last
week affirming its earlier decision putting him as holdover president
of the labor center Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and
ordering the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to conduct an
election as soon as possible for members to determine rightful leaders
of the biggest labor center in the country.
In July 2012, the DOLE ruled
in favour of Atty. Democrito “Kito” Mendoza as president of TUCP.
However, Herrera brought the case to the CA.
TUCP spokesperson Alan
Tanjusay, on the other hand, clarified that the CA ruling pertains
only to the TUCP as labor center and it has no bearing on the TUCP
party-list as a duly registered political party. The party-list is
separate and distinct from the TUCP labor center.
Both have separate board
structure with the party-list registered with COMELEC and not the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).