Court junks disqualification case vs Erap

MANILA, Philippines - A Manila regional trial court (RTC) judge dismissed a disqualification case filed against former President Joseph Estrada last year.

Lawyer Frank Chavez, who represents the former President, received a copy of the decision yesterday. The petitioners filed the case in December last year.

Manila RTC Branch 20 Judge Marivic Balisi-Umali ruled on Feb. 19 that the petition of Romeo de Leon and Mariel Limueco to disqualify Estrada has no basis and that the persons who filed the case have no legal standing to do so.

Balisi-Umali’s dismissal order stated that the preamble of the pardon being questioned by the petitioners is not an essential part of the pardon. She said the dispositive portion of the pardon, which absolutely restores Estrada’s civil and political rights, must be given weight.

The judge stressed that Estrada was qualified to run in the presidential elections of 2010. It also stated that she could not grasp how the pardon, absolute or conditional, could adversely affect the petitioners’ right of suffrage or how the pardon would render their votes for the respondent meaningless.

“The reasons of the petitioners are too vague, highly speculative and uncertain,” Balisi-Umali said.