Comelec junks disqualification cases vs. Koko Pimentel

The Commission on Elections has junked the two disqualification cases against Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, saying the Constitutional ban on two consecutive six-year Senate terms did not apply to the former Senate President.

In a unanimous ruling, the Comelec First Division said the consecutive six-year term limit did not apply to Pimentel because his term had been interrupted.

The First Division's resolution cited the time when then Juan Miguel Zubiri was proclaimed the 12th winning senator in the 2007 elections before the Senate Electoral Tribunal ruled in favor of Pimentel’s election protest in August 2011.

“In Aldovino vs. Comelec, the word 'term' in a legal sense means a fixed and definite period of time which the law describes that an officer may hold an office," the Comelec said.

"The term office is the period during which an office may be held. The limitation refers to the term,” it added.

“It is clear that Pimentel has not fully served his first term as a Senator; thus, the two-term limit does not yet apply to him. In view of the foregoing, Pimentel is eligible to run for Senator in the May 2019 NLE (National and Local Elections),” it added.

The 1987 Constitution limits a Senator’s tenure to two consecutive six-year Senate terms.

The Comelec also cited the case of Abelardo Abundo, Sr. in which the Supreme Court ruled that the two years that Abundo' s opponent served as mayor of Viga, Catanduanes should be considered as an interruption in his service.

This in effect removed Abundo's case from the ambit of the three-term limit rule.

The Resolution was signed by Comelec Commissioner Al Parreño, Rowena Guanzon and Marlon Casquejo.

George Garcia, counsel for Pimentel, said that he never doubted his client’s eligibility to run.

“There is no doubt from the very start that Senator Pimentel is qualified to run for re election. This is the law,” Garcia said.

“Any other interpretation to the contrary is unjust, unreasonable and being shortsighted,” he added.

Pimentel, for his part, argued that the Comelec panel’s decision will enable the voters to see his competence, more than anything.

“I am very happy that the Comelec has finally decided on the cases which have served as a Damocles sword over my candidacy,” Pimentel said in a statement.

“With this issue over, I can now expect the people to judge my candidacy on the basis of my qualification, achievements, plans and advocacies,” Pimentel, the President of ruling party PDP-Laban, added.

After barely serving his first term, Pimentel won a Senate seat again in the 2013 polls under the administration slate of then-President Benigno Aquino III.

The disqualification cases against him were filed by lawyer Ferdinand Topacio and former Biliran representative Glenn Chong, respectively. —NB/BM, GMA News