Duterte camp  insists on Guanzon inhibition in petitions vs. Davao mayor

The camp of Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is appealing the decision of the Commission on Elections First Division to turn down their motion, asking Commissioner Rowena Guanzon to inhibit from the proceedings in the four petitions against his candidacy.

In a motion for reconsideration filed Friday, Duterte—through his lawyer Vitaliano Aguirre—said the First Division's order that denied their motion "contained serious errors and violated Respondent's right to due process because it lacked express ruling on most of the grounds raised in the motion."

They added that Guanzon's "conduct throughout the proceedings" for the petitions "reveals her prejudgment and palpable bias" against the mayor.

Duterte's camp said the First Division failed to look into grounds they raised for "compulsory disqualification" from Guanzon's "public expression of prejudgment," adding that it only pointed to voluntary inhibition raised on the ground of her alleged friendship with Maria Shiela Bazar, lawyer for petitioner JP delas Nieves. 

On Monday, the Comelec First Division denied the motion filed by Duterte to have Guanzon inhibit from the proceedings against the candidacy of the Davao mayor for lack of merit.

All three members of the division, including Guanzon, signed the order. The other members of the division are Commissioner Christian Robert Lim, presiding officer, and Commissioner Luie Tito Guia. — RSJ, GMA News