MANILA, Philippines – The disqualification case filed against presidential aspirant Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte was submitted yesterday for resolution after the petitioner failed to appear in the preliminary conference at the Commission on Elections (Comelec).
Duterte’s camp sought the dismissal of the petition filed by broadcaster Ruben Castor seeking to nullify the mayor’s certificate of candidacy (COC) for president.
Ted Contacto, lawyer for Duterte, said the petition should be junked because neither Castor nor his lawyer, Oliver Lozano, attended the proceeding at the Comelec First Division.
“The petitioner sent an urgent motion waiving his presence, saying it is unnecessary and premature so the petition should be dismissed,” Contacto said in an interview.
Contacto said the absence of Castor during the preliminary conference was a ground for dismissal of the case.
In the petition, Castor questioned Duterte’s substitution for Martin Diño, who filed a COC for mayor rather than as standard bearer of the Partido ng Demokratikong Pilipino-Laban (PDP-Laban).
Castor said Duterte’s substitution for Diño was invalid.
He pointed out that Diño filed a COC for mayor of Pasay City and not for president.
For his part, Diño said supporters of Duterte would not just sit down should the Comelec disqualify the Davao mayor from the presidential race.
Diño, PDP-Laban deputy secretary general for National Capital Region, withdrew his candidacy last October to give way to Duterte.
“Two divisions of the Comelec had cancelled Sen. Grace Poe’s candidacy for president. They cannot do that with Mayor Digong,” Diño said in a press conference in Butuan City on Monday.
He said the substitution of Duterte as PDP-Laban’s standard bearer in the 2016 elections is valid because the Comelec had ruled that he is not a nuisance candidate. – With Ben Serrano