Duterte DQ cases to be merged

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte
INQUIRER/ MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

ALL THREE disqualification cases against presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will be consolidated, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Tuesday.

The poll body’s First Division has decided to merge the petitions against Duterte filed by broadcaster Ruben Castor, “nuisance” presidential candidate Rizalito David and University of the Philippines Student Council chair John Paulo de las Nieves.

But the Duterte camp said it would be opposing the Comelec’s decision to consolidate the cases.

Comelec Chair Andres Bautista said the First Division will start hearing the consolidated case on Jan. 12.

“All the petitions will be consolidated because they all have the same issues,” he said.

He explained that the three petitions were all based on similar grounds, which is that Duterte was not a bona fide candidate since the certificate of candidacy (COC) for President filed by Martin Diño, whom the feisty mayor substituted, was materially defective and, therefore, invalid.

Duterte filed his COC for President last Nov. 27 as a substitute for Diño, who had earlier withdrawn his COC.

“We will definitely oppose the consolidation of cases, especially with one case already set for decision,” said Duterte’s lawyer Vitaliano Aguirre, referring to the Castor case.

Aguirre said the consolidation will only delay the resolution of the Castor case.

“It should not be consolidated with the new cases that were filed,” he added.

Last month, the First Division already conducted a hearing on the petition of Castor against Duterte.

The disqualification cases continue to be heard by the Comelec First Division despite an earlier decision by the commission en banc approving the substitution of Duterte for Diño as the standard-bearer of the PDP-Laban party.