Election body rejects petition filed by Lozano
Malacañang made a sudden turnaround on Tuesday, saying that it would be better if former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada were allowed to join the 2010 presidential elections. “I’d rather not be technical about the candidacy of former President Estrada. I would adhere to the principle of salus populi suprema lex—the voice of the people is the supreme law,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde told reporters in Pampanga.
Remonde said it was better for such “political question to be decided by the people.”
But he clarified that allowing Estrada to join the presidential race does not mean that the Palace was confident of winning in next year’s balloting.
“It’s not a matter of confidence. It’s a matter of believing that that is what’s right,” Remonde said.
Malacañang earlier belittled Estrada’s announcement last week that he was bidding for the presidency for the second time.
Cabinet Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd said that they expect a “flood” of petitions when the former president files his certificate of candidacy next month.
He added that the administration’s position was to let the courts decide the issue and let the people deal with it.
Bello said that he believes the pardon given to Estrada has lesser legal weight than the constitutional restriction barring previously elected presidents to run again for the same office.
Estrada was convicted of plunder in 2007 but was subsequently granted executive clemency by President Gloria Arroyo.
His second stab at the presidency apparently has cleared one legal hurdle.
Lozano petition denied
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) also on Tuesday “outrightly denied” a petition filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano that seeks to disqualify Estrada from running for president again in the 2010 polls.
Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said that Lozano’s filing of the petition was “premature” and that the poll
body has to deny it right away because “there is no matter to talk about a supposed candidacy of a certain person if he has not yet filed his certificate of candidacy.”
The poll body also dismissed the Lozano petition as “premature.”
“The disqualification petition filed by [Lozano] is so obviously premature that it almost seems as if [he] is either making a mockery of the Comelec or deliberately making a laughingstock of himself to make headlines,” said Estrada’s spokesman, Margaux Salcedo.
Lozano, a lawyer and a perceived ally of Malacañang, on Monday filed a disqualification case against the former president. His petition said that Estrada was not qualified to run for president because of constitutional restraints.
And although he admitted that his petition was indeed premature, he said that the Comelec should overlook “this mere technicality.”
Melo said that they would only be welcoming disqualification petitions against political candidates five days after the last day of the filing of certificates of candidacy.
The deadline for the filing is November 30.
The former president, who was ousted in a bloodless “people power” revolt in 2001, formally announced his intention to run last week, with Mayor Jejomar Binay of Makati City as his running mate.
Lozano is a known supporter and a former legal counsel of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos. He is also a member of the Marcos party, the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan.
In his petition, he also expressed his intention to run for president unless Rep. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos of Ilocos Norte decided to run for the same position.
Bongbong is in the senatorial slate of the Estrada-Binay tandem.
With reports from Bernice Camille V. Bauzon and Francis Earl A. Cueto
By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
The Manila Times
Wednesday, 28 October 2009 00:00
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