Rizalito David. SCREENGRAB FROM INQUIRER.net VIDEO
AS HE PUSHES to expel opponents from the presidential race, he himself is fighting to stay on the list.
Rizalito David, a broadcaster who has filed separate pleas to disqualify Sen. Grace Poe and Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as candidates, is set to file a petition in the Supreme Court to stop his disqualification from his own presidential bid.
David’s lawyer, Trixie Cruz-Angeles, confirmed yesterday that her client will file a certiorari plea before the high court on Monday, the first work day of the new year, in a bid to undo the Commission on Elections’ order that declared him a nuisance candidate.
“We’re filing a separate petition for certiorari on the declaration of Mr. David as a nuisance candidate,” Angeles said when reached by phone yesterday.
She said the petition would dispute the Comelec’s ruling that David, as a broadcaster, has no capacity to undertake a national campaign.
“In very general terms, we are attacking the Comelec’s conclusion that if one is a broadcaster, one cannot afford to wage a national campaign and, therefore, is a nusiance candidate,” said Angeles.
While busy with suits against other presidential candidates, David, a defeated senatorial candidate in 2013, has suffered setbacks in his own bid. Tarra Quismundo