‘Unseat Pimentel’
Credit to Author: Jomar Canlas, TMT| Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2020 16:20:46 +0000
THE Supreme Court (SC) was asked on Wednesday to kick out Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel 3rd from the Senate, saying his participation in the senatorial election in May 2019 was illegal.
Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, in a petition for certiorari, urged the high court to annul the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) granting Pimentel a certificate of candidacy.
Topacio said under the law, a senator is only allowed to serve for two terms. He claimed that Pimentel had served two consecutive terms as a senator, thus he committed misrepresentation when he filed his certificate of candidacy.
He argued that Pimentel served his first term when the Senate Electoral Tribunal held with finality that he was a duly elected senator during the 2007 elections. His second term was served when he won as senator in 2013.
“Respondent Comelec erred in applying the relevant provisions of law and the Constitution, as well as acted with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction,” Topacio said.
Pimentel was not able to complete his six-year term because of election fraud that benefited Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri. Zubiri had to give up his post in 2011 to give way to Pimentel, who contested the poll result.
“Respondent Pimentel’s First Term was when he served as a senator from 12 August 2011 to 30 June 2013 since a term of office, in its legal sense, always has a definite end even when the actual commencement differs from the prescribed beginning,” Topacio said.
“The term 2013-2019 should have been considered as respondent Pimentel’s second term pursuant to Section 4, Article VI, of the 1987 Constitution,” he added.
The Comelec had said that Pimentel initially lost the 12th slot during the 2007 elections to Zubiri but was proclaimed later as the duly elected 12th senator, and “it was only then that Pimentel began to discharge his duties and functions of senator.”
The poll body cited the recent case of Abundo Sr. vs. Comelec, wherein Abelardo Abundo was declared the winner in the protest case involving the race for mayor of Viga, Catanduanes.
Abundo ousted his opponent and assumed the post for the remainder of the term.
“The Supreme Court ruled that the two-year period during which Abundo’s opponent was serving as mayor should be considered as an interruption in his service, which effectively removed Abundo’s case from the ambit of the three-term rule,” the commission said.
The Comelec argued that Pimentel has not fully served his first term as a senator hence, the two-term limit does not apply to him.