Erap Estrada asks SC to dismiss disqualification case for lack of merit
Saying that the presidential pardon granted to him in 2007 was absolute and had restored his right to run for office, Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss for “utter lack of merit” a case seeking his disqualification from holding public office.
Estrada submitted to the high tribunal on June 16 his memorandum or final argument on the disqualification case filed against him by lawyer Alicia Risos-Vidal and petitioner-intervenor Alfredo Lim whom the former beat in the mayoral race last year.
The memorandum was in compliance with the high court’s April 22 order for all parties to turn over their final arguments within 30 days so that it could resolve the case.
In a 71-page memorandum, Estrada insisted that the pardon granted to him on Oct. 25, 2007, by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was “absolute and unconditional” and had restored his civil and political rights “sans any restriction,” including his right to run for public office.
Estrada, who became president in 1998 but was deposed in 2001, was pardoned by Arroyo after he was convicted of plunder by the Sandiganbayan.
In his petition, the Manila mayor said that his eligibility to run for office “was confirmed and further solidified when two Commission on Elections’ resolutions affirmed that his pardon was not conditional. The poll body also said that the statement in his pardon saying that he had “publicly committed to no longer seek any elective position or office” was just a “preliminary statement and not really a condition” set for his pardon.
Article continues after this advertisement“It is therefore axiomatic that the findings of … Comelec relative to the absoluteness of the pardon, the effects thereof and the eligibility of (Estrada) to seek public elective office are binding and conclusive on this Honorable Supreme Court, [and] hence, cannot be disturbed,” he said.
Consequently, the dismissal of the disqualification case against him “was mandatory, if not inevitable under the circumstances,” Estrada added.
