Comelec junks 2nd disqualification case vs Arroyo

The Commission on Elections (Comelec) dismissed Thursday the remaining disqualification case filed against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, allowing her to push through with her candidacy in the second legislative district of Pampanga. In a promulgation held Thursday, the poll body's second division dismissed the petition of Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros, a senatorial candidate of the Liberal Party, seeking to disqualify President Arroyo to run in the May polls for "lack of merit." In her petition, Hontiveros said that Mrs. Arroyo, as an incumbent president, violated Article VII 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." Aside from violating this provision, she said the President should also be disqualified for denying her opponents equal opportunity for public service because they would be fighting an incumbent president who has the country’s resources at her disposal. This, said the lawmaker, would in turn violate the equal protection clause, Article III Section I of the 1987 Constitution, which states that "no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without protection of the laws." But the Comelec second division ruled that there was no constitutional provision barring President Arroyo from running in the May polls. "If it is in the intention of the Constitutional Commission to ban the President from running for any future elective position, it could have so worded the pertinent constitutional provision in an unequivocal manner," it said in its resolution. If it was meant as such, the poll body said that the provision would have been worded as: "The President shall not be eligible for any reelection to the same position and for election to any other elective position." Test case for Comelec However, Hontiveros told reporters on Thursday that although she was not expecting anything from the poll body, she had expected the Comelec to properly consider their arguments. "Ito ay naging isang test sa ating Comelec na gawing pantay at gawing patas yung ating halalan, unfortunately ang kanilang pagdismiss for lack of merit ng disqualification case against President Arroyo, sa tingin ko po ang Comelec second division ay nagfail sa ganitong test (This was a test for the Comelec to keep the elections fair. Unfortunately, the dismissal of the disqualification case showed that that the Comelec second division failed this test)," she said. The lawmaker said they are contemplating on taking the case directly to the Supreme Court and not anymore appealing to the Comelec en banc. But the President's lawyer, Romulo Macalintal, told reporters in a separate interview that the high tribunal should not have to deal with such "baseless" petitons. "Sana naman itigil na rin yan sapagkat mas maraming mahahalagang kaso na dapat resolbahin ng Korte Suprema kaysa sa mga ganitong petisyon na wala namang basehan (There are many more important cases that the Supreme Court needs to resolve than their baseless petitions)," he said. "Hindi ko nga malaman ano ang pinagbabasihan ng kanilang mga petition (I don't even know where they're basing their petitions)," he added. If their petition is dismissed again, Hontiveros said they will continue to campaign against Mrs. Arroyo using the forces of Akbayan and the Liberal Party. She added that they will also campaign for the President's political rival Adonis Simpao in the second district of Pampanga. "Anuman ang maging desisyon ng Comelec, pag natalo dito dadalin namin sa korte suprema, pag natalo pa sa korte suprema, dadalin namin sa balota, hindi namin hahayaan namin na mapasok si GMA sa kongreso dahil yan ang daan niya pabalik sa Malacanang (If both the Comelec and the Supreme Court dismiss the case, we will bring the fight to the ballot, we will not let her penetrate the Congress because that will pave the way for her return to the palace)," she said. No constitutional prohibition Earlier, the Comelec second division had also junked the disqualification case filed against President Arroyo by lawyer Elly Pamatong. The second division said that the petition should be “dismissed outright" because there was no constitutional prohibition preventing the sitting president from running for any public office other that of president. It added that the petitioner merely added his own “flawed" interpretation of the Constitution, resulting to an “unjustified conclusion." - RSJ, GMANews.TV