SC orders Comelec to recognize only FPJ as LDP bet

The Supreme Court declared yesterday actor and presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr. as the official standard-bearer of the opposition party Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP).

Voting 10-3, the Supreme Court (SC) nullified the ruling made by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Jan. 6, which virtually divided LDP into two factions – one headed by party president Edgardo Angara and another by Makati City Rep. Agapito Aquino, LDP secretary-general.

Comelec had handed down a "Solomonic solution" to the problem by recognizing both factions. Angara is heading a faction supporting Poe’s presidential bid while the Aquino wing backs the candidacy of Sen. Panfilo Lacson.

The SC directed the Comelec to recognize the faction headed by Angara because, as party chairman, he has the authority to sign the certificates of candidacy (COCs) of LDP candidates.

This means Poe becomes the official LDP candidate while Lacson winds up running as an independent in the May 10 elections.

In a statement, Aquino said the Supreme Court made an "adverse ruling."

"At the moment, our lawyers are already preparing for the appropriate legal remedy in connection with the adverse ruling," he said.

"We are deferring our official stand," Aquino said, "until we get hold of a copy of the decision and evaluate its legal merits."

In the 23-page decision penned by Associate Justice Dante Tinga, the high court assailed the Comelec ruling which effectively divided the LDP into "wings."

"By creating the two wings, the Comelec effectively diffused the LDP’s strength and undeniably emasculated its chance of obtaining the Commission’s nod as the dominant minority party," the SC said.

Among those who concurred in the decision were Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. and Justices Artemio Panganiban, Leonardo Quisumbing, Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Antonio Carpio, Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Conchita Carpio-Morales, Romeo Callejo Sr. and Adolfo Azcuna.

Justices Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez and Renato Corona wrote dissenting opinions while Justice Jose Vitug wrote a separate opinion. Justice Reynato Puno was on leave.

The Comelec earlier declared that each faction of the LDP is allowed to nominate its candidates and entitled to appoint representatives in the canvassing of election returns.

The division in the LDP became imminent after the faction led by Aquino proclaimed Lacson as the party’s standard- bearer.

Angara and his allies contested the declaration and ordered the expulsion of Lacson from the party and the "indefinite suspension" of Aquino and other LDP members involved in the proclamation which, he said, was illegal.

After the LDP through Angara made it plain they are supporting Poe, the party merged with two other opposition parties to form the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP), the umbrella group backing Poe’s candidacy.

Lacson, on the other hand, filed a separate COC signed by Aquino, declaring himself as the sole candidate of the LDP.

Angara questioned Lacson’s candidacy under the LDP banner before Comelec, but the poll body responded with its Solomonic solution declaring that both factions were qualified to nominate their own presidential candidates.

Six days after the Comelec ruling, Angara filed a 33-page petition asking the high tribunal to nullify the order allowing Lacson to run under the LDP banner.