SC asked to reverse decision allowing Arroyo to seek House seat

Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros on Friday asked the Supreme Court to reverse its decision allowing President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to seek a congressional seat for the second district of Pampanga province. Hontiveros, who is seeking a Senate seat under the Liberal Party, filed the petition at 11 a.m. Friday, a week before the start of the official campaign period for local candidates slated on March 26. "It would be an uneven fight, with GMA capable of mobilizing the entire powers of the presidency to win the congressional seat. It is precisely this kind of abuse that the framers of the Constitution contemplated when they instituted the ban on re-election for an incumbent president," Hontiveros said in her petition. Last January, the Commission on Elections junked the disqualification case Hontiveros filed against Mrs. Arroyo, ruling that there was no constitutional provision barring the president from running in the May polls. Hontiveros then elevated the case to the Supreme Court, but the high tribunal likewise dismissed Hontiveros' case. In her petition, Hontiveros said Mrs. Arroyo could not run for congresswoman because according to her, Section 4, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution imposes "an absolute ban on any re-election for an incumbent President, and a prohibition on re-election for the presidency against an individual who succeeded as President and who have served as such for more than four years." The High Court, however, unanimously junked the petition since there was “no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the Commission of Elections (Comelec)," Supreme Court spokesperson and administrator Midas Marquez said. Government critics have said that President Arroyo's decision to seek a congressional post is part of her plan to run for prime minister should her congressional allies succeed in changing the form of government from the present presidential system to a parliamentary one. — Johanna Camille Sisante/RSJ/LBG, GMANews.TV