Presentation

1. 18th Congress of the
Philippines
Joseph Stephen Paduano

2. Joseph Stephen Paduano
• Joseph Stephen Paduano (born January 22, 1965),[1] also known
by his nom de guerre Carapali Lualhati, is a Filipino politician who
previously served as the House Minority Leader from 2020 to 2022.
He has been the party-list representative for Abang Lingkod since
2014.[2][3]
• He was the national commander of the Revolutionary Proletarian
Army-Alex Boncayao Brigade (RPA-ABB), an armed communist
revolutionary group.

3. Activism
• Prior to his political career, Paduano was a member of
the Revolutionary Proletarian Army—Alex Boncayao Brigade, the
military wing of the Revolutionary Workers' Party, a communist
party that split from the Communist Party of the Philippines. He
went on the become its national commander with the nom de
guerre of "Carapali Lualhalti."[4] Paduano later disengaged from the
group as he sought to participate in the 2013 elections as a party-
list representative for Abang Lingkod, to which he was its first
nominee.

4. Political career
• Despite his party-list winning more than 260,215 votes in the 2013
elections and earning them one seat in the House of
Representatives, Paduano's group was disqualified by
the Commission on Elections because it "didn't have a track
record." However, on October 22, 2013, the Supreme
Court reversed the election body's decision saying that the said
party-list "need not prove track record."[7] He was later sworn into
office by then Speaker Feliciano Belmonte as the 290th member of
the House of Representatives on May 28, 2014.

5. • As the party-list's first nominee, Paduano continued to serve in the
House of Representatives after his group was re-elected in
the 2016[9] and 2019 elections.

6. • In the 18th Congress, Paduano served as Deputy Minority
Leader.[12] Of all the representatives who hail from Negros
Occidental, it was only Paduano who did not vote for Pateros–
Taguig lone district representative Alan Peter
Cayetano as Speaker in 2019 and instead, voted for Manila 6th
district representative Bienvenido Abante as he was hoping to
remain as Deputy Minority Leader. Abante was later elected
as Minority Floor Leader.

7. • He was a co-author to House Bill No. 3713, authored by Parañaque
City 2nd district representative Joy Myra Tambunting, which sought
to give a fresh 25-year franchise to ABS-CBN. During the 13th
hearing on the network's franchise renewal on July 9, 2020,
Paduano withdrew his co-authorship of the bill after concurring with
the observations of Sagip party-list representative and Deputy
Speaker Rodante Marcoleta that the network "has been funneling
some of its income to Big Dipper" to "avoid paying taxes".

8. • On October 19, 2020, he was unanimously elected to become the
Minority Floor Leader after Abante's resignation on October 16,
2020.[3] He is the first party-list representative to hold such a
position.

9. References