(UPDATE) A PETITION filed at the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET) seeks the ouster of Murang Kuryente Rep. Arthur Yap. The petition for quo warranto was filed after the Office of the Ombudsman last February found Yap and several others administratively liable over acts allegedly committed during his time as Bohol governor. HRET Case 25-017 challenges Yap’s authority to hold office on the grounds of ineligibility. The Ombudsman ordered Yap’s dismissal from government service. The petitioner, Edgardo Ingking, a member of the anti-corruption group Lihok Bol-anon Batok Korapsyon, alleged that Yap misrepresented himself when he declared in his Certificate of Nomination and Certificate of Acceptance of Nomination that he had all the qualifications and none of the disqualifications under the law. Citing Section 7, Rule III of the Ombudsman’s Rules of Procedure, as amended by Administrative Order 17, the petition emphasized that Ombudsman decisions are immediately executory and are not stayed by the filing of an appeal. Ingking maintained that Yap remains dismissed from the service and perpetually disqualified from holding public office, and therefore has no legal authority to serve as a member of the House of Representatives as Murang Kuryente’s first nominee. If the HRET grants the petition, Murang Kuryente’s House seat would go to the party-list group’s second nominee. The Commission on Elections in October proclaimed Murang Kuryente and two other party-list groups as winners in last May’s elections after it canceled the registration of the Duterte Youth Party-list, which had been entitled to three seats.