Comelec junks disqualification case vs Arroyo

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has secured the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) go-signal to run for Congress this May, after the poll body rejected a petition to disqualify her from the race. The Comelec Second Division, which on Wednesday also allowed former President Joseph Estrada to run for President, rejected the plea of lawyer Elly Pamatong to cancel Mrs. Arroyo's certificate of candidacy. It said the petition lacked merit and was a "waste of precious time." "I cannot see any law that prohibits it (Arroyo’s candidacy)," Commissioner Nicodemo Ferrer told a press briefing after the promulgation. President Arroyo's bid to represent Pampanga's second legislative district was separately challenged by Pamatong and Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros. Pamatong filed his petition together with his disqualification plea against Estrada, which the poll body also junked. [See: Comelec allows Erap to run for President in May 10 polls] Hontiveros’ plea is pending at the Comelec Second Division.

In their petitions, Pamatong and Hontiveros argued that Mrs. Arroyo's candidacy violated Article 7, Section 4 of the Constitution which reads: “The President shall not be eligible for any reelection. No person who has succeeded as President and has served as such for more than four years shall be qualified for election to the same office at any time." But Arroyo lawyer Romulo Macalintal said his client is not seeking reelection since she is running for a position other than the presidency. The petitioners also said Mrs. Arroyo should be disqualified for denying her opponents equal opportunity for public service since she could use government resources in her favor. This, according to Hontiveros, violates the equal protection clause under Article 3, Section 1 of the 1987 Constitution, which states that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without protection of the laws." "Allowing a sitting President to run for office would open a veritable Pandora’s Box and, when interfaced with other existing laws and policies, present fundamental questions of equity," she said earlier. But the Second Division was not impressed. "Obviously... there is nothing [in the Constitution] that prevents the sitting President from running for any public office other than for President," the poll body said. Ferrer, for his part, noted that if a party was not satisfied with their decision, it could always appeal to the Comelec en banc or Supreme Court. "Whatever we do in the Second Division is not final anyway," he said. — LBG/RSJ/NPA, GMANews.TV