Erap insists before SC he’s qualified for election

MANILA, Philippines -  Former President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada insisted before the Supreme Court (SC) he was qualified to run in the mayoralty race last May 13 since the pardon reinstating his civil rights after his conviction for plunder in 2007 was absolute.

In a 32-page comment, he asked the high court to set a hearing on the case and receive evidence to prove his point.

He questioned former mayor Alfredo Lim’s claim that the pardon granted to Estrada by former President and re-elected Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was hinged on the condition that he would no longer seek elective office as supposedly stated in the whereas clause of the clemency.

Estrada urged the high court to either set oral argument on the case or direct the Court of Appeals (CA) to do hear the case.

“Since intervenor (Lim) is so sure of his premises, respondent Estrada respectfully requests that evidence be received either by the (Supreme Court) or by the Court of Appeals,” his lawyers said.

Estrada told the SC he has evidence to prove that it was Arroyo who initially offered to grant him absolute pardon on the condition that he should apply for it, which he rejected; and that a “full and absolute pardon” was offered to him after he approved its draft.

He also said Arroyo made the offer “to buy mass support from the followers of Estrada” at the height of challenges to her legitimacy as chief executive in 2007.

Estrada believes Lim’s petition seeking the cancellation of his certificate of candidacy, which was an intervention to a similar petition by Lim’s lawyer Alicia Vidal, should be dismissed for lack of merit.

He also argued that Lim lacked the legal standing to intervene in the case because Lim does not stand to sustain any direct injury, or is denied a right or privilege he is entitled to, with Estrada sitting as mayor of Manila.

Estrada pointed out that under Section 44 of the Local Government Code, when the winning candidate for mayor is disqualified, the vice mayor – in his case, Isko Moreno – takes over the vacated position, not the candidate who got the second most number of votes for the position in question.

With this, he asked the high court to affirm the Commission on Elections (Comelec) decision dismissing the disqualification petition filed by Vidal against him.

Estrada insisted that his political right to vote and be elected had been restored by the pardon.

He cited the high court’s ruling in Garcia vs. Comelec, which held that “a pardon has generally been regarded as blotting out the existence of guilt so that in the eyes of the law the offender is as innocent as though he never committed the offense.”

He added that even the Omnibus Election Code is explicit regarding the effect of pardon on a candidate.

The SC, meanwhile, granted yesterday the request of the Office of the Solicitor General to comment on the petitions of Vidal and Lim until July 28.