It’s final: Comelec junks DQ case vs Erap

MANILA, Philippines - The Commission on Elections (Comelec) upheld with finality the dismissal of the disqualification case against former President Joseph Estrada, clearing the way for him to run for Manila’s top post.

In an April 23 resolution, Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. and Commissioners Lucenito Tagle, Elias Yusoph and Grace Padaca denied the motion for reconsideration (MR) filed by lawyer Alicia Risos-Vidal for lack of merit.

Commissioner Christian Robert Lim had inhibited himself from the case as he used to be a private prosecutor in the plunder case against Estrada.

Estrada personally received yesterday a copy of the decision. He was accompanied by his running mate, re-electionist Vice Mayor Isko Moreno.

“We were informed that the motion for reconsideration to the disqualification case has been denied with finality. Dirty Harry filed three petitions and they are all dismissed. I think this is the last of the dirty tricks of the outgoing mayor,” Estrada told reporters, referring to the nickname of his rival, re-electionist Mayor Alfredo Lim.

According to Comelec, Vidal’s argument in her MR that the Second Division erred in resolving the material issue in her petition was “bereft of any merit.”

“After careful perusal of the records of this case, we find no cogent reason to depart from the Resolution of the Commission Second Division,” the resolution stated.

The Comelec noted that Vidal’s “arguments are mere rehash of the issues and arguments raised in the petition which issues and arguments were already thoroughly reviewed, passed upon and incisively examined by the Second Division.”

Vidal, who was Lim’s lawyer in the 2010 elections, had sought Estrada’s disqualification claiming that his conviction for plunder and being sentenced to life imprisonment had rendered him disqualified to run for public office.

She also argued that the executive pardon granted to him by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did not restore his right to seek or hold public office.

In an April 1 resolution, the Second Division ruled that Vidal’s case is “glaringly similar or intertwined” with the disqualification cases filed against Estrada when he ran for president in 2010.

Estrada mulls DQ rap vs Lim

Meanwhile, Estrada is planning to file a disqualification case against Lim over questions involving his citizenship.

“His father and mother are Chinese. We cannot find any birth certificate and he cannot produce one,” he said. His camp tried to get Lim’s birth certificate a month ago but failed.

Estrada has accused Lim of fabricating his birth certificate, a requirement for many government jobs.

“The people have a right to know. He became a policeman, mayor, secretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government and senator. He will answer for the falsification of his birth certificate,” he said.

He denied insinuations that he is taking his revenge on Lim, whom he believes is behind the disqualification cases lodged against him with the Comelec and the Manila regional trial court.

“Of course not… The people deserve to know his citizenship,” Estrada said. – With Jose Rodel Clapano