The dissent: Erap can’t hold office

MANILA, Philippines - Former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada should be ousted from his post and no longer be allowed to join elections, a Supreme Court (SC) justice has argued.

In his 74-page dissenting opinion on the SC ruling last month upholding the eligibility of Estrada in the 2013 mayoralty race, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen said the accessory penalty of perpetual disqualification from public office imposed by the Sandiganbayan in his 2007 plunder conviction was absolute.

Leonen said Estrada “continues to suffer the penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification and is thereby disqualified from exercising the right to vote in any election for any popular elective office or to be elected to such office.”

This could mean the former president should be barred from seeking election in the 2016 polls.

Contrary to the majority ruling, Leonen believed the pardon granted by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to Estrada did not restore his right to suffrage.

“The pardon extended to Estrada is definite by its omission: There is neither an express restoration of Estrada’s rights to vote and be voted for elective public office nor a remission of his perpetual absolute disqualification. To this extent, it is clear and unambiguous. This should suffice to put an end to Estrada’s asseverations that he was qualified to run for mayor of Manila,” Leonen pointed out.

“Estrada remains bound to suffer the effects of the penalty of perpetual absolute disqualification, as listed in Article 30 of the Revised Penal Code. Specifically, he remains disqualified from exercising the right to vote in any election for any popular elective office, and he remains barred from occupying any public office, elective or otherwise,” he added.

Leonen further stressed that since Estrada’s perpetual absolute disqualification was not remitted, and his rights to vote and be voted for elective public office not having been restored, the Commission on Elections should have disqualified him in the mayoralty race.

In effect, Estrada’s rival and former mayor Alfredo Lim – who placed second to him in the elections – should have been declared winner instead.

Chief Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno and Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio agreed with Leonen’s opinion.

But they were the minority during deliberations of the high court last Jan. 21.

The majority, consisting of 11 justices, held that the pardon extended by Arroyo following Estrada’s conviction by the Sandiganbayan was “absolute,” thereby restoring his qualifications to stand as candidate in the last mayoralty elections.

The ruling opinion penned by Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo-de Castro also cited Estrada’s acceptance of absolute pardon, which “removed the disqualification arising under Section 40 of the Local Government Code in relation to section 12 of the Omnibus Election Code.”

It upheld the decision of the Comelec declaring Estrada qualified to run for mayor of the City of Manila in the May 13, 2013 elections.

Estrada won the mayoralty race with 343,993 votes, against Lim’s 308,544 votes. Estrada was then proclaimed mayor of Manila by the poll body.