SET junks quo warranto petition vs. Koko Pimentel

The quo warranto petition seeking to declare Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III ineligible for the senatorial term 2019-2025 has been junked by the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET).

In a 17-page decision signed on June 3, the SET dismissed the petition "for lack of merit."

Petitioners Reymar Mansilungan and Efren Adan filed the said petition on May 31, 2019, questioning Pimentel's eligibility as they pointed out that it would be his third term in the Senate, claiming that he already served the 2007-2013 and 2013-2019 terms.

They cited Section 4, Article VI of the Constitution which states that a senator must serve no more than two consecutive terms.

However, the SET ruling said that for that disqualification argument to stand, it is a requisite that a senator has fully served two terms.

It was noted in the decision that involuntary severance from office for any length of time short of the full term provided by law amounts to an interruption of continuity of service.

"The involuntary interrupted term, cannot, in the context of the disqualification rule, be considered as one term for purposes of counting the term threshold," the ruling read.

"Respondent was not prohibited to run and be elected for the 2019-2025 Senatorial term as he has yet to serve two consecutive Senatorial terms in full within the contemplation of prevailing law and jurisprudence," it added.

Pimentel first won a Senate seat in the 2007 polls but he was only proclaimed winner in August 2011 after the SET ruled in favor of his election protest against Juan Miguel Zubiri.

He was re-elected as senator in 2013. The Commission on Elections allowed the former Senate President's 2019 candidacy since he did not fully serve the 2007-2013 senatorial term.—AOL, GMA News