Quo warranto case filed vs Pimentel before SET

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) has asked reelected Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III to answer the two quo warranto petitions separately filed before the body seeking to nullify his victory in the May 13 elections.

The petitions filed by Efren Adan and Reymar Mansilungan both said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) erred in proclaiming Pimentel as senator as he would already be on his third consecutive six-year tenure.

Senators are only allowed to serve two consecutive terms under the Constitution.

The SET is chaired by Supreme Court (SC) Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio while members are SC Associate Justices Mariano del Castillo and Marvic Leonen, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon and Sens. Nancy Binay, Richard Gordon, Manny Pacquiao and outgoing Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV.

A quo warranto is a petition seeking to remove an official from his post due to an invalid appointment or election. It was the same route used by Solicitor General Jose Calida in seeking the removal of then chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno last year.

Pimentel ran as senator in 2007 but it was Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri who was proclaimed winner for the 12th and last slot by a narrow margin. 

He then filed a petition before the SET contesting the results. The SET accepted the protest and proceeded with a recount of votes. In August 2011, the tribunal ruled in favor of Pimentel. But before the decision came out, Zubiri had resigned.

In 2013, Pimentel – son and namesake of former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel Jr. – ran and won another term under the ticket of then president Benigno Aquino III.

Adan and Mansilungan, in their separate complaints, said just because Pimentel was not able to completely serve his first term does not exempt him from the constitutional provision limiting the terms of senators.

Mansilungan, who identified himself as a registered voter from Barangay Matoog-toog in Mercedes town, Camarines Norte province, said in his 21-page complaint that Pimentel “was unlawfully elected as a member of the Philippine Senate for a third consecutive term.”