Deputy Speaker Raymond Mendoza, the representative of party-list group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, gets another three years in Congress after the proclamation of TUCP as 2025 election winner.
This means Mendoza will be part of the 20th Congress, just like he was in every Congress since the 14th, as first pointed out by X user @aesyeo_.
How did this happen when the Constitution specifically imposes a three-term limit for House members?
The short answer is that unique circumstances have interrupted three of his six terms in Congress.
Entry to Congress in 2009
Mendoza first became a member of the 14th Congress, which convened from 2007 to 2010. He, however, was able to assume his post only in 2009.
This was because in 2007, TUCP and several other party-list groups failed to meet the 2% threshold required by the party-list law to get one seat. But because only 14 groups met the minimum number of votes, several congressional seats weren’t filled, contrary to the party-list law provision that said 20% of of all House seats should go to party-list groups.
Banat vs Comelec, a Supreme Court ruling in 2009, devised a computation so that more party-list groups — including those that did not breach the 2% threshold — would get a seat based on their election ranking.
TUCP made the High Court’s list, and Mendoza was proclaimed a member of the House in April 2009, a little over a year before the term of the House lawmakers in the 14th Congress expired, based on the timeline provided by TUCP to Rappler.
First full term, then consecutive proclamation delays
Mendoza’s late entry to the 14th Congress did not count as one full term, because as decided by the Supreme Court in Tallado vs Comelec, involuntary, temporary loss of office makes a public official exempt from the three-term limit cap.
TUCP was reelected in 2010, and Mendoza again represented the group in the 15th Congress. With no interruption, this served as his first full term.
TUCP again secured one seat in the 2013 and 2016 election cycles, but infighting plagued the group, particularly between the faction of Mendoza’s father, Democrito “Ka Kito”, and former senator Ernesto Herrera.
The Commission on Elections eventually delayed the turnover of proclamation papers to give itself time to decide which wing of the group was legitimate.
In the 16th Congress, Mendoza was able to assume the post only on July 30, 2013, a month after the term of the new batch of lawmakers started. In the 17th Congress, Mendoza formally became a lawmaker on October 5, 2016, or more than three months from June 30.
Finally, no more interruptions
Mendoza’s service in the 16th and 17th Congress did not count as full terms, so the count was basically reset.
In 2019, TUCP placed 32nd in the party-list race, earning the group a seat. Mendoza again represented TUCP, and with no more interruptions, his three years in the 18th Congress counted as his first full term.
He’s also set to finish his second term in the 19th Congress on June 30.
The Comelec already handed his proclamation papers for the 20th Congress. If he finishes his third and final term until 2028 with no interruptions, he will finally be term-limited in the next party-list election and will have to sit out the next poll cycle.
Mendoza comes from a family of labor leaders. His father and namesake was a pillar of the labor movement in the Philippines who founded TUCP and the Associated Labor Unions.
Mendoza and his party-list group are among the loudest voices in Congress pushing for wage increase, and promises to continue doing so in the next Congress.
“The TUCP Party-list will push for the first-ever ₱200 legislated wage hike in 36 years to lift our minimum wage earners out of poverty and step closer towards living wages,” the group said in a statement.
“The TUCP Party-list will fight to end precarious ENDO contractualization, once and for all, so regular jobs become the rule rather than the rare exception,” it added.
Mendoza has been deputy speaker since the start of the 19th Congress. He is the uncle of Tingog Representative Yedda Romualdez, wife of House Speaker Martin Romualdez. – Rappler.com