SC junks disqualification petition against Estrada

(Updated 5:18 p.m.) The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied with finality a petition seeking to disqualify former President Joseph Estrada from the presidential race this coming May 10 elections. Court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said the high tribunal junked the petition after the petitioners, Vanguards of the Philippine Constitution Inc. (VPCI), failed to raise “substantive argument" in their motion for reconsideration. “The petition is denied with finality, there being no substantive argument raised in the motion for reconsideration of petitioners," Marquez said. The ruling affirmed the court’s December 8, 2009 decision that said the petition should have been filed with the Commission on Elections (Comelec), which is the government body that has first jurisdiction over disqualification cases against candidates. VPCI, represented by its president Eligio Mallari, filed the petition asking the SC to nullify Estrada’s candidacy, noting that Section 4, Article VII of the Constitution clearly prohibits presidents from running for re-election. “Thus, it does not matter whether the one seeking for a re-election is the immediate outgoing elected President or an elected President who had served as such by virtue of previous elections. This provision admits no other qualification," the petition read. Estrada, elected president in 1998, was ousted after two years following charges of corruption. He was tried and later found guilty of plunder by the Sandiganbayan and was sentenced to reclusion perpetua. His successor, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, pardoned him in October 2007, or a month after his conviction. VPCI said in its petition that the pardon only restored Estrada’s right to vote, not to be voted upon. Estrada filed his candidacy on November 30, 2009 with the Comelec under the United Opposition (UNO) party. - KBK/GMANews.TV