SENADO 2016, sino nga ba?

Godofredo V. Arquiza

Independent

Born: 1945, Novaliches

 

 

Dubbed by netizens as one of 2016’s nuisance candidates, former lawmaker Godofredo V. Arquiza has had his fair share of controversy.

 

In 2013 the commission on elections (Comelec) refused to proclaim any of the nominees of Arquiza’s party-list,  the Coalition of Association of Senior Citizens Inc., as part of the House of Representatives because of “violations of election rules and their by-laws”. The Comelec defied the Supreme Court declaration at the time.

 

The Senior Citizen party-list apparently had two factions with a set of two nominees each, both factions claiming to be the legitimate group. The Comelec could not choose which the two sets to put in the two seats won by the party-list in the previous elections.

 

The Senior-Citizen partylist, according to Republic Act No. 7941 (Party-List System Act), were allowed only two seats in Congress based on the votes they garnered in the previous year’s May polls.

 

“It is clear … that both individuals have abused their authority to usurp leadership over Senior Citizens from one another,” the Comelec said in an interview for The Manila Times, referring to Arquiza and the other faction’s leader, Francisco Datol, Jr.

 

The Comelec said Arquiza’s faction refused to hold party-list elections since he came to power in 2007. No election has also been held since the faction was founded back in 2003. Datol’s faction, on the other hand, “had illegally tried to seize the leadership of the party by misleading members and submitting falsified documents, including a padded members’ list.” Comelec released a 15-page resolution in January 2013 refusing to recognize Arquiza as the party-list representative. 

 

In any case, Arquiza was the party-list representative in the 13th and 14th Congress, where he played a key role in the passage of the Republic Act 9994, or the Expanded Senior Citizens Act. 

 

Arquiza rebuted the Comelec resolution by filing contempt charges against then Comelec chief Sixto Brillantes and two other senior commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph.

 

He is also infamous for being arrested for libel when he was on his way from his house in Novaliches to President Aquino’s 2013 State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives at the Batasan Complex. The charges stemmed from complaints filed two years ago by his party-list colleagues Francisco Datol Jr. and Plut Vazquez concerning his privilege speech in 2011.

 

Arquiza voted pro-RH Bill in 2012, among 132 other members of the House of Representatives.

 

Before that the 13t Congress, he was president of Oneway Printing Foundation and a lawyer and Certified Public Accountant for GVA Accounting & Law Firm and president of One-way Technical Foundation in 2006.

 

As for his plan in the Senate, if elected, 71-year-old Arquiza in 2015 said he “plan[s] to represent the 18 million senior citizens all over the country sa Senate, para magkaroon ng boses ang inyong mga nanay, tatay, lolo at lola,” according to a report from ABS-CBN.

 

Arquiza has, again, failed to elaborate on his statement.

 

Resources

Inquirer Staff. (2014, January 20). Comelec chief Brillantes, 2 other poll execs slapped with contempt rap. Retrieved from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/566847/comelec-chief-brillantes-2-other-poll-execs-slapped-with-contempt-rap#ixzz434S8J74A

Panti, L. (2014, January 20). Three Comelec execs face contempt over delayed Senior Citizens party-list proclamation. The Manila Times. Retrieved from http://www.manilatimes.net/ three-comelec-execs-face-contempt-over-delayed-senior-citizens-party-list-proclamation/69155/

Placido, L. (2015, October 14). 'Sir Tsip', ex party-list solon set eyes on Senate. ABS-CBN News. Retrieved from http://newsmobile.abs-cbn.com/nation/10/14/15/sir-tsip-ex-party- list-solon-set-eyes-senate/

Ramirez, R. (2014, January 13). Comelec defies proclaiming representatives for senior citizen party-list.   The Manila Times. Retrieved from http://www.manilatimes.net/comelec- defies-proclaiming-representatives-for-senior-citizen-party-list/67377/

Rappler staff. (2012, December 17). How solons voted on final reading of RH bill. Rappler. Retrieved from http://www.rappler.com/nation/18119-how-solons-voted-on-final-reading-of-rh-bill

Rappler staff. (2015, October 13). Former Representative Godofredo Arquiza of Senior Citizens Party List files his COC for Senator. Rappler Facebook page. Retrieved from   https://www.facebook.com/rapplerdotcom/posts/1069716829715766:0