Seventh disqualification case filed against GMA

The seventh disqualification case against President Arroyo was filed yesterday by a former military colonel over the proliferation of her name and likeness in the projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) all over the country.

Mariano Santiago, who admits to being a supporter of presidential candidate Sen. Panfilo Lacson, said the President "is taking advantage of her other political opponents with the use of malversed, misappropriated and plundered public funds for her political propaganda."

He called on the public to boycott car registration fees, which included road user’s tax, as these were reportedly funding all DPWH road maintenance projects which the President, he said, is abusing to promote her candidacy.

Santiago explained that the President’s promotion of the projects is unjustified and that billboards and T-shirts worn by DPWH workers "are no different" from what the Comelec has banned under the Omnibus Election Code.

He also cited other circumstantial evidence to support his claim that the President is abusing government projects to boost her candidacy.

The disqualification case is the latest in the string of suits that came in quick succession against Mrs. Arroyo.

The Advocates and Adherents of Social Justice, a party-list group, filed on Jan. 7 a petition to deny the certificate of candidacy of the President citing her earlier promise not to seek a full six-year term. A similar petition was filed by disqualified candidate Antonio Villanueva on Jan. 12, asking her to resign before running.

On Jan. 19, one M. Abdulaziz Paiso sought to disqualify the President while another was filed on Jan. 30 by disqualified candidate Melchor Chavez.

Last March 15, the PRO-CON(stitution) group filed a disqualification case against Mrs. Arroyo for allegedly exceeding the allowed number of broadcast minutes for television campaign advertisements.

This was followed by another disqualification filed by the group after finding evidence to implicate her in an earlier virtual vote-buying and electioneering case filed against Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Ma. Livia de Leon and Philhealth president Francisco Duque.

The two government officials had claimed in their defense that they were merely obeying an executive order to provide insurance for a year to some five million poor families using government funds.

Four other earlier petitions were filed against the President but were not taken seriously.

In the most recent petition, Santiago also asked the Comelec to suspend Public Works and Highways Secretary Florante Soriquez and Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin.

Meanwhile, the case filed by PRO-CON(stitution) group had its first hearing yesterday.

Through her lawyers, Mrs. Arroyo explained that she did not exceed the allowed 120 minutes allowed for television advertisements for each candidate.

She said the 188 minutes she consumed so far should be divided between her and her party Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD), which paid for the advertisements.