Comelec junks petition to declare Martin Diño as nuisance candidate

MANILA, (PNA)—The petition to declare Martin Diño, former presidential candidate of the PDP-Laban as nuisance candidate has been junked by the Commission on Election (Comelec) for being moot and academic since he already withdrew his Certificate of Candidacy (CoC).

“With the foregoing development, the relief prayed for in the present petition has become moot and academic, that is, whatever judgment is reached can no longer have any practical legal effect or, in the nature of things, can no longer be enforced,” said the Comelec Second Division in a five-page decision.

Earlier, the Comelec Law Department filed a moth proprio petition to Declare a Candidate as a Nuisance Candidate against Diño.

The December 4 ruling added, “Wherefore, premises considered, the petition to declare Martin Diño as a nuisance candidate is hereby dismissed for being moot and academic.”

But, the Comelec Second Division noted that the decision is without prejudice to questions on whether Diño’s CoC was validly filed last October 16.

“(This is) without prejudice to any future ruling on the validity of the said COC—formal or substantial—that may be raised before the Commission,” the ruling said.

There is a pending petition filed by Ruben Castor before the Comelec First Division asking to declare Diño’s CoC as invalid and therefore, Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte cannot substitute for Diño since the latter applied to run for mayor of Pasay City and “not for president.”

On the other hand, Comelec Chairman Juan Andres Bautista said that the Comelec First Division is set to hear Castor’s petition on December 16.

Duterte filed his CoC for president as a substitute for Diño last November 27. (PNA)