MANILA, Philippines ? The Supreme Court has been asked by a lawmaker to reverse the ruling of the Commission on Elections, which allowed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to run for Congress in her hometown Pampanga.
In her petition, Akbayan Representative Risa Hontiveros also asked the high court to issue a temporary restraining order on the inclusion of Arroyo?s name in the ballots for the 2nd district of Pampanga.
?A local candidate is only allowed to spend P1.50 per voter, while GMA spent P459 million in infrastructure projects in her district last year alone. A congressional candidate cannot have campaign posters bigger than 2 feet by 3 feet, but GMA [Arroyo?s initials] can produce ? using government funds ? tarpaulins that are half as wide as Commenwealth Ave. A candidate for congressman is barred from conferring with the Board of Election Inspectors, but GMA can ? and actually did ? call a Comelec commissioner to secure her votes. The injustice and unfairness of her candidacy is patent,? Hontiveros said.
She told the high court that she opted not to file a motion for reconsideration with the Comelec for lack of time and because the issue was of transcendental importance.
?Even the 2nd Division admitted that the case is of transcendental importance since it involves no less than the President of the Republic herself,? Hontiveros said, adding that the Comelec 2nd division committed grave abuse of discretion when it ruled that the President was not prohibited by the Constitution to run under a lower position.
?The Comelec erred in its reading of Section 4, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution. We believe that provision makes two prohibitions ? an absolute ban on any re-election for an incumbent President, and a prohibition on re-election for the presidency against an individual who succeeded as President and who have served as such for more than four years,? she said.
She also argued that the injury being prevented by the prohibition against an incumbent President?s re-election for the presidency likewise existed in his or her candidacy for the lower position.
?As she has done in the past, she can use the entire resources and machinery of the State to influence the result of the elections or to give herself undue advantage,? she reiterated.
?This makes her contenders vulnerable. If presidential candidates are protected from the muscle-flexing of an incumbent president running for re-election for the same position, then the same protection must be extended to candidates for lower positions,? she added, citing Article 3 Section or the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
