'Self-styled' international lawyer seeks disqualification of Noynoy, Gibo, Manny

You can’t blame self-styled “international lawyer" Elly Pamatong for trying. Days after announcing his presidential bid, Pamatong seeks to disqualify three of his rivals – former defense chief Gilberto Teodoro, Jr. and senators Manny Villar and Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III. Teodoro, Villar, and Aquino should be excluded from the presidential race after they violated the previous ban on premature campaigning for 823 days, Pamatong claimed in a petition filed late Monday. The self-proclaimed international lawyer was pertaining to the SC ruling reversing its decision dated September 11, 2009 that decriminalizes any political activities done before the start of the campaign period. In the Sept. 11 decision, the justices voted 8-7 to disqualify Santa Monica, Surigao del Norte mayor Rosalinda Penera when she held a motorcade after filing her candidacy on November 30, 2006 for the May 2007 elections. Under the Omnibus Election Code, a motorcade is considered a political activity. SC spokesperson Jose Midas Marquez said the justices, voting 9-5, ruled that the conduct of political activity such as broadcasting infomercials before the start of the campaign season should be considered as “an exercise of the candidates’ freedom of expression." “While the split ruling in Penera vs. Comelec was reversed on November 25, Sec. 80 of the election code and the September 11, 2007 Penera vs. Comelec ruling was very much in effect from July 2007 to November 25 – a period of 823 days," he said. But Pamatong said although this may have “retroactively cleansed," the respondents of criminality, their “moral turpitude and evil character" was contrary to the intentions of the Omnibus Election Code. “All the respondents have knowingly ignored or disregarded this legal position taken by the Comelec and the Supreme Court to level the playing field between the poor and the rich," said Pamatong, who once caused an uproar five years ago by throwing metal spikes along EDSA, Metro Manila’s busiest thoroughfare. “Do you really think that allowing the elites to campaign for as long as they want really fair?" he added. Petition seeks Pacquiao, Lapid disqualification In a separate petition, Pamatong also called for the disqualification of pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao who is seeking a congressional seat in Saranggani and Senator Lito Lapid who is seeking reelection. Quoting Justice Isagani Cruz, Pamatong said Pacquiao and Lapid should be prevented from running in 2010 because they are just “unqualified professional entertainers." “Both Pacquiao and Lapid are politically blind, being unschooled in the art of governance and politically leadership. We cannot just simply hold our hands akimbo and idiotically watch our republic being feasted upon by these power-hungry political pedestrians who want to grab everything in sight," he said. After weeding out the nuisance candidates and settling the disqualification cases, the Comelec said it will come out with the official list of candidates by the end of December. - RJAB Jr., GMANews.TV