Trinidad says Comelec ruling allows him to run in 2010

MANILA, Philippines - Mayor Wenceslao “Peewee” Trinidad said yesterday a Commission on Elections (Comelec) ruling has allowed him to seek another term as mayor of Pasay City in 2010.

Trinidad said a Comelec resolution ruled that he is allowed to run for reelection, and that reports to the contrary are “maliciously concocted lies” by his political detractors, led by the camp of Vice Mayor Tony Calixto, who he said is gearing up to run for mayor next year.

 “History proved that the people of Pasay do not pin their hopes to people they deem not yet ripe and fit for leadership, like all my past opponents who all miserably lost. I believe Pasay is the graveyard for the political careers of eager-beaver politicians,” Trinidad said. 

Trinidad was not able to finish the remaining months of his third term as mayor (from 2004 to 2007), because of a case filed against him that cut his term in October 2006.

In 2007, he ran for mayor and won but courted a disqualification case. The petitioner, Jerry Guzman, claimed it would be Trinidad’s fourth term as mayor. Trinidad said the Comelec’s Dec. 11, 2008 order – penned by commissioners Rene Sarmiento and Nicodemo Ferrer – dismissed the disqualification case against him.

He said the Comelec ruled that his current term as mayor effectively became “another original first term” because his previous three terms had been interrupted, making him eligible to run again in 2010 and 2013. – Jose Rodel Clapano