Comelec asked to disqualify Drilon, Serge Osmeña from Senate race

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) was asked on Friday to disqualify former Senators Franklin Drilon and Sergio Osmena III from seeking Senate seats in 2010 for not completing the six-year interval mandated by the 1987 Constitution before being reelected. In two separate petitions for disqualification, lawyer Vladimir Cabigao said the former senators have "not completed the prohibitory period of one term, or six years" from their last term in 2007. Both Drilon and Osmena have served two terms in the Senate, from 1995 to 2007. Cabigao said the two former senators can only seek reelection in 2013, or six years after they served their consecutive terms in the Senate. Drilon however dismissed the petition for disqualification filed against him as a “nuisance suit," saying it is only a move by the administration to destroy the opposition. “This petition is not anchored on the provisions of the law; it is anchored on a political vendetta being waged by the Arroyo administration against the opposition," the former Senate President said in a statement on Friday. Drilon even cited a legal opinion rendered by the Comelec Law Department to him that says a senator can run again for the Senate after three years following the completion of his two terms in office. “I am confident the Comelec will dismiss this petition for lack of merit and uphold the legality of my candidacy," he said. Both Drilon and Osmena are set to for senator run under the Liberal Party in the upcoming polls. Osmena filed his certificate of candidacy as an independent senatorial candidate, but is being adopted by the LP. - Andreo C. Calonzo, GMANews.TV