House leaders welcomed Friday the Supreme Court (SC) decision upholding the legality of the merger of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats with the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi) as they called on those who are against the union of the country’s two largest political parties to respect the ruling and move on as soon as possible.

“We welcome the Supreme Court decision upholding the Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling. We are happy this issue was finally settled,” Speaker Prospero Nograles said in a text message.

The SC, in a recently released resolution, junked a petition of Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. questioning the approval of the merger by the Comelec.

The High Tribunal cited the “failure of the petition to sufficiently show that any grave abuse of discretion was committed by the Comelec in rendering the challenged resolution.”

It also held that the Comelec resolution “appears to be in accord with the facts and applicable laws and jurisprudence.”

Nograles, a member of the Lakas-Kampi-CMD national advisory board, and House Deputy Speaker for Mindanao Simeon Datumanong said they knew right from the start that any petition against the Lakas-Kampi merger would not prosper.

“The suit questioning the merger was clearly out of bounds and was a fruit of the petition being removed from the party in question. It never had any legal basis to begin with,” Nograles said, referring to De Venecia.