Former lawmaker believes justice will prevail amid pending SC ruling

Lawyer and former Magsasaka party-list representative Argel Cabatbat expressed belief that justice will prevail as he waits for the decision of the Supreme Court on the election of the group’s lawmaker in the House of Representatives.

“Malaki ang respeto at pagkilala natin sa galing at kakayanan ng ating hukuman. Tiwala tayong mananaig ang tama para sa magsasakang Pilipino,” Cabatbat said in a statement on Tuesday.

(Our respect and acknowledgment of the court’s efficiency is big. We trust that justice will prevail for the Filipino farmers.)

Cabatbat is waiting for the SC to decide on Magsasaka’s motion for the issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction or a temporary restraining order to maintain the status quo prior to the proclamation of Roberto Nazal Jr. as the group’s party-list representative.

The petition was filed against Magsasaka national chairperson Soliman Villamin Jr., the faction which Nazal is affiliated with, and the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Nazal was able to assume office four months after the party won the elections since the poll body had to resolve the internal dispute between Villamin Jr. and the faction led by Cabatbat.

In October 2022, the SC issued an order stopping Nazal from assuming his post as a member of the House of Representatives following Cabatbat’s petition.

“Minsan nang nagdesisyon ang Korte para sa ating panig, at naniniwala ako na kikilalanin tayo bilang tunay na kinatawan ng magsasakang Pilipino,” Cabatbat said.

(The court has once decided in our favor, and I believe that we will be acknowledged as the true representative of Filipino farmers.)

Following the promulgation of the SC’s decision in 2022, Villamin’s camp had said, “To say that the SC favored Atty. Cabatbat as the legitimate representative of the organization is utterly false, entirely baseless, and completely misleading.”

“For the record, Mr. Nazal, who is a highly respected agricultural entrepreneur, has been an esteemed member of the rightful, Comelec-approved Magsasaka Party-List for quite some time,” a spokesperson for the Magsasaka party-list group ]had said. — VDV, GMA Integrated News