Erap: Disqualification bid pure harassment, dirty tricks

MANILA, Philippines - Former President Joseph Estrada yesterday said that the disqualification case filed to stop him from running for Manila mayor was straight out of the dirty tricks department of his rival.

“This is just one of their dirty tricks. This is purely harassment. This is not Dirty Harry, but dirty tricks,” he said, referring to the moniker of incumbent Mayor Alfred Lim. “They don’t know what they are doing. They are wasting their time.”

After attending the hearing on his disqualification case at the Commission on Elections in Manila, Estrada urged Lim to fight squarely.

“He is a good friend. Let’s have a fair fight. No dirty tricks, no harassment. Let’s put this political fight aboveboard,” he said.

He said that Lim was behind the case filed by lawyer Alicia Vidal who claimed that Estrada should be disqualified from running for Manila mayor because he violated the conditions of his pardon granted to him in October 2007 after he was convicted of plunder.

He added that one of Vidal’s lawyers, former Sandigabayan Associate Justice Rodolfo Palattao, is also a lawyer of Lim.

Vidal had admitted being a lawyer of Lim for the election protest filed against him by former Manila mayor Lito Atienza in connection with the 2010 polls.

She insisted that Lim had nothing to do with the disqualification case she filed against Estrada.

“He has nothing to do with this. I am filing this as a registered voter of Manila,” she added.

In her petition, Vidal said Estrada violated the conditions in the pardon granted to him when he joined the mayoralty race.

Estrada was under house arrest for over six years on plunder cases until he was convicted and then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo later granted him pardon with a commitment that he would not seek public office.

Former solicitor general Frank Chavez and dean Pacifico Agabin represented Estrada at the Comelec hearing.

Chavez said the determining factor for his disqualification lies in the dispositive portion of his pardon document.

“It (conditions) appears on the ‘whereas clause’ but it is not part of the pardon. It imposes no obligation on him. So the very same pardon document restored his civil and political rights,” he said.

Estrada said that his being allowed to run for president in 2010 was proof Vidal’s case was unfounded.

“I was allowed to run for the presidency, how come that I run for mayor. I am qualified because I’ve been a mayor (of San Juan) for 17 years. The more so that I’m qualified,” he added.

Chavez recalled that the issue had already been resolved when Estrada was allowed to run in the 2010 elections and garnered over 10 million votes.

“The fact that Erap was able to run in 2010 is proof enough that the pardon was absolute, that Erap was restored full civil and political rights, and that he can vote and be voted upon,” Chavez added.

Vidal’s petition is the third disqualification case against Estrada since he declared his candidacy for Manila mayor.

Lawyers Fernando Perito and Nepthali Aliposa filed the first case against Estrada before the Sandiganbayan on Nov. 16, 2012, claiming that the former president’s pardon was conditional, but the anti-graft court dismissed the case. – With Jose Rodel Clapano