Erap qualified to run again - JDV

Pangasinan Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr. agreed yesterday that former President Joseph Estrada can again run for president in the May 2010 elections.

“I think the constitutional prohibition against any re-election for the president does not apply to former presidents. It applies to an incumbent president,” De Venecia, who is a former Speaker, told reporters.

He said the intention of the Constitutional Commission in including the prohibition in the 1987 Constitution is to prevent an incumbent from using the powers and resources of his office for his re-election.

“Thus, the Charter framers limited the president to just one six-year term,” he said.

He said a former president should be qualified to run for the top post again because he cannot use the powers and resources of the presidency to promote his candidacy.

He recalled that under the 1935 Constitution, the president had a four-year term with one re-election.

De Venecia and Estrada have become allies since the Pangasinan congressman’s ouster as Speaker in February last year.

The re-election prohibition in the present Charter states: “The President shall not be eligible for any re-election.”

Former Senate President Ernesto Maceda said Estrada is 80 percent sure to run for president again in 2010.

Maceda, who is Estrada’s chief political adviser, said the ousted leader has consulted several legal luminaries who agreed that the constitutional prohibition clearly states against “any re-election” for “the President.”

“They told him the prohibition does not apply to him and to any former president. It applies to the incumbent president,” he said.

Maceda said Estrada consulted legal experts including former Supreme Court Chief Justice Andres Narvasa, former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza, former Presidential Legal Counsel Magdangal Elma, and Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City.

San Juan Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, who was Estrada’s first executive secretary, has expressed a contrary view on the legal issue.

In a recent chat with reporters, Zamora said he believes that the prohibition applies to Estrada and to any former president.

“The term ‘the president’ refers to the incumbent president and to former presidents. ‘Any re-election’ refers to immediate and future runs for the presidency,” he said.

Zamora said he has communicated his views to Estrada.

He added that if Estrada decides to run again, he would surely face a disqualification case before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and the Supreme Court.

As for Estrada’s most likely running mate in 2010, Maceda said there is a good chance that it would be Sen. Loren Legarda.

“An Erap-Loren combination would be a formidable ticket,” he said.