Ronald Singson unfazed by disqualification case

Former Ilocos Sur representative Ronald Singson.INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

VIGAN CITY—Former Ilocos Sur Rep. Ronald Singson is not worried at all by a complaint to disqualify him from running in the May 13 elections on the charge that he had been convicted of drug trafficking in Hong Kong.

“My lawyers have assured and guaranteed that my candidacy is valid. We are ready to defend it,” Singson, who is running for representative in the first district of the province, said on Thursday.

His opponent, lawyer Bertrand Baterina of the Liberal Party (LP), filed the complaint in the Commission on Elections (Comelec), arguing that a Hong Kong court had found Singson guilty of drug trafficking in February 2011.

Singson, son of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson, was sentenced to a prison term of one year and six months after he was caught with 6 grams of cocaine and two sleeping pills at  Lap Kok International Airport in Hong Kong.

“He is disqualified from running as a member of the House of Representatives … on the grounds that he was convicted by final judgment for a crime involving moral turpitude and the five-year period of disqualification after service of sentence has yet to expire,” Baterina said.

Singson said the filing of the complaint was malicious because Baterina had waited after the prescribed period of disqualification set for candidates for the May 13 elections.

If he is disqualified from running, Singson said his father would take his place. Leoncio Balbin Jr., Inquirer Northern Luzon