SC may rule on Erap DQ case next month

The Supreme Court (SC) could rule next month on petitions to disqualify former President Joseph Estrada as mayor of Manila, an insider bared yesterday.

The source said the high court in a resolution promulgated on April 22 required concerned parties to submit their respective memoranda within 30 days from receipt of notice.

“Once the memoranda are received, the court will submit the case for resolution and a decision can be expected thereafter,” the source told The STAR.

The source, a member of the court who refused to be named as the case remains pending, said the case might be included in their agenda when they resume session next month after their decision-writing recess.

The insider clarified that there is no draft decision yet on the case, contrary to the claim of the parties involved.

“How can there be a draft decision when the court has not submitted it for resolution yet? The writing of the decision comes only after the submission of memoranda. That’s in the rules,” the magistrate said.

In its resolution last month, the SC had given due course to the petitions filed by former mayor Alfredo Lim and his lawyer, Alicia Risos-Vidal.

Due course

SC spokesman Theodore Te clarified that by giving due course, the high court did not necessarily find merit in the arguments raised in the petitions.

“Due course means that it will result in a decision on the merits, not on an outright dismissal. It means the court will not dismiss the petition outright. That’s all it means,” he said.

Vidal filed a petition seeking to reverse a Commission on Elections decision that declared Estrada qualified to run for mayor in Manila. Lim filed his petitionin-intervention.

The petitioners said Estrada’s conviction for plunder and life sentence in 2007 rendered him disqualified to run for public office.

They added the executive pardon granted by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo did not restore his right to seek or hold public office.

Absolute pardon

Estrada submitted his comment on the petitions last year. He insisted that Arroyo’s pardon was absolute and not hinged on the condition that he would no longer seek elective office.

He added the pardon had “effectively obliterated” all the penalties attached to the conviction and restored his full and civil political rights.

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

Estrada likewise noted 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 – succeeds, and not the candidate who got the second most number of votes for the position in question.

Estrada won over Lim with 343,993 votes in the May 2013 elections. Lim got 308,544 votes.