Estrada faces disqualification case days before oath-taking

With just five days to go before he assumes office, Manila Mayor-elect Joseph “Erap” Estrada was asked on Tuesday by the Supreme Court to comment on the petition for intervention filed by his rival, outgoing Mayor Alfredo Lim, in the disqualification case filed against the former leader.

This was the directive given by the high court during its en banc meeting on Tuesday as it deliberated on the case filed by lawyer Alice Vidal, according to its spokesperson, Theodore Te.

Vidal had asked the court to order the Commission on Elections to declare Estrada unfit to hold public office.

Estrada is set to assume the mayoral post at noon on June 30 along with other elected officials.

He was declared the winner in the elections held in May over Lim who filed a petition for intervention in the high tribunal.

In her petition, Vidal had said that Estrada was not qualified to run for public office because he was convicted for plunder by the Sandiganbayan in September 2007.

She added that although he was pardoned by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo the following year, Estrada’s right to vote or run for public office was not restored.