It ain’t over just yet.
Broadcaster Ruben Castor has filed a motion for reconsideration seeking to overturn the decision of the Comelec First Division dismissing all four petitions seeking to disqualify Mayor Rodrigo Duterte from joining the presidential race.
Castor, through his counsel Oliver Lozano, filed the motion on Thursday, a day after the Comelec body issued its decision.
The Comelec First Division unanimously decided to deny all four disqualification petitions filed by Castor, University of the Philippines Diliman student council chair John Paulo delas Nieves, and nuisance presidential bets Ely Pamatong and Rizalito David due to lack of merit.
In Castor’s motion, he laid down three reversible errors in the poll body’s decision: first, when the division found that his petition to deny due course or to cancel Duterte’s certificate of candidacy was not timely filed; second, when the division said that indicators “unmistakably point out” Diño’s intention to run for president; and third, when the petition was dismissed due to his absence in the preliminary conference.
Castor alleged that Duterte is not fit to run for president because Diño’s COC was defective, making his substitution invalid.
Without the disqualification cases against him, Duterte remains to be one of the six hopefuls seeking the presidency along with administration bet Mar Roxas, Senator Grace Poe, Vice President Jejomar Binay, Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago and representative Roy Seneres.