Comelec : Joseph Erap Estrada can run for President in 2010 Election

Yesterday, The Commission on Elections or Comelec said that Joseph Erap Estrada can run for president in the 2010 election. This is exactly after nine years after former president Erap left the Malacanang Palace due to the so-called People Power 2.

"The better policy approach is to let the people decide who will be the next President. For on political questions, this court may err but the sovereign people will not," the Second Division of the poll body said after in a decision junking the two petitions for disqualification separately filed by Evilio Pormento and Mary Lou Estrada.

"The disqualification petitions are both denied for utter lack of merit," the Comelec said.

In seeking Estrada's disqualification, the petitioners cited Article VII, Section 4 of the Constitution which says: "The President shall not be eligible for any reelection. No person who has succeeded as President and has served as such for more than four years shall be qualified for election to the same office at any time."

It must be remembered that in 1998, Joseph Erap Estrada was elected with over 10 million votes, the highest vote a presidential candidate ever had in Philippine history. But after more than two years in power, he was toppled by the street uprising amid corruption allegations and before an impeachment court could rule on his case.

In September 2007, Erap Estrada was convicted by the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan for plunder, sentenced to a lifetime in jail and disqualified from seeking public office.

But after a month, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo granted him executive clemency, thus restoring his political and civil rights, including his right to run for office.

"Estrada no longer holds a public office, more importantly, he is no longer the President and wields none of the vast powers of this position… Because of this prevailing status, a simple application of the rule will lead any reasonable and logical person to conclude that the prohibition against the reelection of the President does not apply to Estrada," the Second Division said.

This means that contested provision only applies to incumbent Chief Executives.

The decision, however, is not yet final since the petitioners can still appeal the same before the Comelec and even the Supreme Court.

But for the meantime, Estrada expressed confidence that he would rise higher in surveys on preferred presidential candidates, in which he is consistently ranked third even back when there were doubts on the legitimacy of his renewed bid for the presidency.

Apparently, the two leading presidential candidates in surveys are Noynoy Aquino and Manny Villar.

The former president offered a Thankgiving mass this afternoon at Tondo, where he said he owe his triumph to the masses.

In my short but honest opinion, Erap has a lot of things to do before he can the heart of the majority of masses again. Although there are still four months to go before the election, most young people are already looking for fresh faces in politics.

Related posts:
Joseph Erap Estrada back in Malacanang today
Erap for President in 2010 confirmed
Erap for President in 2010 officially announced
2010 Philippine Automated Election Guide now released
Philippine Election 2010 Special Registration and How to Verify Online
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo will run for Congress in 2010 election

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