Lawyer debunks claim of Palace legal coup d’etat

Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal on Thursday scored candidates and political parties claiming that a “legal coup d’etat” is being planned by the administration to ensure that its standard bearer would win in next year’s presidential polls.

“It is totally unfair and uncalled for, if not very childish, for any candidate or political party to accuse the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET), Supreme Court or any agency charged with electoral processes of bias or partisanship just because some of the appointees in said offices were appointed by the present administration,” Macalintal said in a statement.

He was referring to claims by another lawyer, Harry Roque, who said Tuesday that the Liberal Party (LP) and its standard bearer, former Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, were plotting to eliminate his rivals through lawsuits.

  Baseless allegations

According to Roque, the “legal coup” was already being done through suits at the Comelec and the SET calling for the disqualification of Sen. Grace Poe, and through efforts to send to jail Vice President Jejomar Binay, who is being investigated by the Senate and the Ombudsman for alleged corruption.

Roque added that there was also a plan to prevent Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte from running.

Roque’s allegations were dismissed by Akbayan Rep. Barry Gutierrez, spokesperson of LP’s Team Daang Matuwid slate, as baseless. He said Binay and Poe’s cases, in particular, were already being taken in appropriate tribunals where the processes are open to public scrutiny.

Macalintal also defended the government agencies hearing the suits being faced by Roxas’ major rivals.

“It should be remembered that these officers are not performing political functions but judicial powers and are deemed to be acting independently. Thus, without any concrete evidence, their impartiality cannot be questioned,” he added.

 File charges

“If some candidates are not comfortable with some election officials, their remedy is not merely to criticize but file appropriate charges for their inhibition or disqualification from holding such offices,” he said.

Macalintal said candidates, political parties and other politicians who claim that the Comelec would be favoring administration candidates should also be careful with their accusations.

“If they are not confident of an impartial Comelec, they should have not participated [in the election process] until such time that they could present evidence to replace them with people whom they could trust in the coming election,” the lawyer said.

He noted that it is Congress, not Comelec, that proclaims the winning President and Vice President.

“If political partisanship could be raised against the Comelec whose officials are appointed and not politicians, then with more reason that they (critics) should doubt the entire Congress whose senators and representatives are tasked by the Constitution to determine the authenticity of canvass results and proclamation of winning president and vice president,” Macalintal said.