Drilon, Osmeña defend their eligibility to run in 2010 polls

Despite “resting" for only three years since their last term, former Senators Franklin Drilon and Sergio Osmeña III said Wednesday that there is no Constitutional provision barring them from running in the 2010 elections. “Maybe they don’t really read the constitution because it’s written in the constitution that no senator shall serve two consecutive terms, that’s all, it didn’t indicate how long the rest or hiatus should be before he can run again," Osmeña told reporters after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) held a hearing for the disqualification case filed against them by lawyer Vladimir Alarique Cabigao. Last December 4, Cabigao filed separate petitions asking for the disqualification of the former senators, saying that the two have “not completed the prohibitory period of one term, or six years" since their last term in 2007. “The constitution is very exclusive, no senator shall serve for more than two consecutive terms and if there is a hiatus, people expect that the hiatus would be equal to one term of a senator, how long is one term? Six years," the lawyer told reporters in a separate interview. Both Drilon and Osmeña have served two terms in the Senate, from 1995 to 2007. Cabigao said the two former senators can only seek reelection in 2013, or six years after they served their consecutive terms in the Senate. But Sixto Brillantes, who is legal counsel for both senators, said that the Supreme Court had already decided on this matter through Socrates vs Comelec. In 2002, then Puerto Princesa Mayor Dennis Socrates was ousted, paving the way for special polls. And despite having served for three consecutive terms before Socrates, incumbent Puerto Princesa Mayor Edward Hagedorn was allowed by the SC to run for the position again, saying the mayor’s less than a year hiatus excludes him from the rule. The decision said that the framers of the Constitution did not intend “the period of rest" of an elective official who has reached his term limit to be the full extent of the succeeding term. The high court said this also applies to senators. “A senator can run after only three years following his completion of two terms...the prohibited election refers only to the immediate reelection, and not to any subsequent election, during the six-year period following the two term limit," said the SC ruling. Drilon, for his part, had earlier dismissed the disqualification case as a “nuisance suit," saying it is only a move by the administration to destroy the opposition. “This petition is not anchored on the provisions of the law; it is anchored on a political vendetta being waged by the Arroyo administration against the opposition," the former Senate President said. Drilon is running under the Liberal Party while Osmeña is running as an independent, though he has openly expressed his support for the candidacy of Senator Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III. - GMANews.TV