Lawyer says Koko already on second term, files DQ case vs.senator

A disqualification case was filed against re-electionist Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III on Monday, the Commissions on Elections (COMELEC) has said.

According to Comelec spokesman James Jimenez, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio claimed that Pimentel could no longer run for senator in the upcoming mid-term elections because he was already on his second consecutive term.

Constitutional term limits ban senators from running for a third consecutive term.

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

Pimentel was again elected as senator on 2013 and has only been holding the position for seven years now because of the Zubiri case.

He filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) on October 11.

'Not applicable'

Pimentel expressed confidence his re-election would not be derailed despite the disqualification case.

"The Constitution, law, jurisprudence, and basic concept of fairness are all on our side. Hence we are very very confident that we will prevail," Pimentel told GMA News Online.

The senator said that his lawyers would answer the petition in due time if the Comelec would so require.

"Comelec may surprise us by dismissing the petition outright for being a nuisance petition. But in any case, we [a]r[e] ready and we kno[w] the correct answer to this issue," Pimentel said.

Pimentel's camp also underscored that the cases which Topacio cited were not applicable to his situation.

"The Aratea and Latasa cases cited by Topacio are not relevant. Facts are not similar. In Aratea the candidate really served 3 terms already and moreover was disqualified by final judgment in a criminal case. In Latasa, the candidate served 3 terms as municipal mayor but ran again as 'city mayor' when the municipality was upgraded to a city," he said.

According to Jimenez, the disqualification case filed against Pimentel will undergo due process.

Asked if the issue on Pimentel's case was raised when he filed his COC, Jimenez said: "Na-raise pero hindi naman at that moment haharangan natin. What we do is that we accept the COC and we let it go through the due process." —NB/RSJ, GMA News