Davao Mayor Rodrigo Duterte. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / MARIANNE BERMUDEZ
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) First Division has junked the petition seeking to disqualify Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte from the 2016 presidential race, according to the candidate鈥檚 camp.
But at a news conference called by the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Commissioner Christian Robert Lim said the petition is still up for consideration.
Lawyer Vitaliano Aguirre said the division dismissed the petition filed by UP Diliman University Student Council (USC) chair John Paulo delas Nieves who sought the cancelation of the certificate of candidacy (COC) of Duterte after he and his lawyer failed to appear in the preliminary conference on the case.
In his 23-page petition, Delas Nieves said Duterte鈥檚 substitution for former Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) standard-bearer Martin Di帽o was invalid as Dino鈥檚 COC was defective.
Delas Nieves said that due to Di帽o鈥檚 defective COC, Duterte had no bona fide candidate to substitute for.
鈥淥n account of the material defect in the COC of Di帽o, which is evident on its face, the certificate of candidacy is therefore null and void and no valid candidate exists for whom Rodrigo Duterte can substitute. Di帽o himself could never be considered to have ever filed a valid certificate of candidacy,鈥� Delas Nieves said in his petition.
With delas Nieves鈥� petition junked, the Comelec is left with two more disqualification cases against the feisty mayor. AJH/KS
(Updated 5:34 p.m.)