{"id":70115,"date":"2016-02-04T23:01:08","date_gmt":"2016-02-05T04:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=70115"},"modified":"2016-02-04T23:01:08","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T04:01:08","slug":"petitioner-appeals-dismissal-of-dq-cases-against-duterte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2016\/02\/04\/petitioner-appeals-dismissal-of-dq-cases-against-duterte\/","title":{"rendered":"Petitioner appeals dismissal of DQ cases against Duterte"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Rodrigo<\/a>
Rodrigo Duterte
(Photo from the official Facebook page of Duterte<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA\u2014Broadcaster Ruben Castor on Thursday filed a six-page motion for reconsideration seeking to overturn the Commission on Election\u2019s (Comelec) decision to dismiss all four disqualification cases against presidential candidate Rodrigo \u201cRody\u201d Duterte.<\/p>\n

Castor is one of the petitioners in the dismissed disqualification cases against Duterte. The poll body\u2019s First Division dismissed Castor\u2019s petition due to errors, such as: Castor\u2019s untimely filing of petition to deny due course; when indicators \u201cunmistakably point out\u201d Di\u00f1o\u2019s intention to run for president; and his absence in the preliminary conference. Castor contested these findings in his appeal.<\/p>\n

Castor also argued in his appeal that Duterte\u2019s substitution for Martin Di\u00f1o was invalid because Duterte filed his Certificate of Candidacy (CoC) for mayor of Pasay City while Di\u00f1o filed his CoC for president.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn case of conflict between form and substance [in Di\u00f1o\u2019s COC], the latter prevails. The substance is for mayor of Pasay City,\u201d Castor said.<\/p>\n

Revisiting rule on substitution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Comelec Commissioner Rowena Guanzon on Thursday said that the rules on substitution of candidates must be \u201crevisited\u201d to prevent the kind of Duterte-Di\u00f1o substitution issue from happening again.<\/p>\n

“First, why did respondent Di\u00f1o make a mistake in his certificate of candidacy (COC) where he stated that he is running for mayor of Pasay City,” the Commissioner said in her 11-page separate opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it is true, as found by the majority, that most of the circumstances and overt acts relative to the filing of respondent Di\u00f1o’s COC show that he intended to file the same for the position of president, there was still no adequate convincing explanation given why respondent Di\u00f1o made the mistake of writing that he was running for the position of mayor of Pasay City,” she added.<\/p>\n

Despite her proposition to review the rules on substitution, Guanzon, along with Commissioners Christian Robert Lim and Luie Tito Guia, said that the substitution is \u201clegally compliant.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Guanzon said that Di\u00f1o made use of the \u201cloopholes\u201d in the rules.<\/p>\n

\u201c(While the substitution) was legally compliant with relevant rules, the timing of the same gives the impression that it was done in order to take away this Commission’s power to declare Di\u00f1o as a nuisance candidate, and consequently, to preserve his right to be substituted\u00a0 by another candidate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

“I am uncomfortable with how respondent Di\u00f1o appeared to have exploited a loophole in our rules in order to avoid the scrutiny which might have eventually found him a nuisance candidate, and at the same time, effectively extend the deadline for the filing of candidacy of his substitute.\u201d<\/p>\n

“These matters should not go unnoticed and should be addressed through an amendment of our rules or by the law itself,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cA victory\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP-Laban) welcomed the decision of Comelec to dismiss the disqualification cases against Duterte.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the victory of all those clamoring for real change. This is the victory of all those who are fed up with the continuing disorder, lack of security and equal opportunities in our country,\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PDP-Laban spokesperson Atty. Paola Alvarez said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that the struggle for real change is a collective endeavor where the people are the masters of their own destiny. Thus, Mayor Duterte and Senator Cayetano will need the help and support of all those who are longing for genuine change,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u2014Broadcaster Ruben Castor on Thursday filed a six-page motion for reconsideration seeking to overturn the Commission on Election\u2019s (Comelec) decision …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":5056,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-70115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-news","category-news-ph","tag-original","mauthors-katherine-padilla","mauthors-philippine-canadian-inquirer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}