Supreme Court seeks comment on disqualification case vs Estrada

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Joseph Estrada and the Commission on Elections (Comelec) have been ordered by the Supreme Court (SC) to comment separately within 10 days on a petition seeking the disqualification of the Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino standard-bearer from today’s presidential race.

The SC, in recess until after the next president is proclaimed, would assess the arguments in the case to see if there would be a need to convene for a special session, according to SC spokesman Midas Marquez.

The SC issued the resolution after a special session last Friday.

The Comelec had dismissed the petition of Evelio Pormento on grounds that Estrada could not be covered by the constitutional ban on a president’s reelection because he is not the incumbent.

In his petition to the Comelec, Pormento said Estrada should not be allowed to join the presidential elections based on Article VII Section 4 of the Constitution.

“The President shall not be eligible for any reelection,” read the petition, quoting the Constitution.

“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.”

The Comelec said Estrada had regained his political and civil rights after he was pardoned by President Arroyo a month after his conviction of the crime of plunder in September 2007.

However, Pormento said in his petition to the SC that the spirit of the constitutional ban on presidential reelection is “absolute.”

As for his civil rights, Estrada cannot to be voted upon by virtue of his self-imposed condition under the pardon that states: “Whereas, Joseph Estrada has publicly committed to no longer seek any elective position or office,” he added.

Last January, the SC dismissed a similar petition of Vanguard of the Philippine Constitution, Inc. seeking Estrada’s disqualification on these same grounds.

The SC ruled that the case was premature because the Comelec then had yet to resolve the case.