(Eagle News)–The Supreme Court has junked the petition filed by Elly Pamatong that seeks to oust Rodrigo Duterte as President.
In dismissing Pamatong’s quo warranto petition, the SC en banc, in a seven-page minute resolution, said Pamatong’s “cause of action already prescribed” on June 30, 2017, one year after Duterte was inaugurated as the 16th President.
Pamatong filed the petition on June 6, 2018 or “only a few days short of two years since Duterte’s inauguration,” the SC said.
According to the High Court, Pamatong also lacks the “legal standing” to file the petition in the first place.
Under the Rules of Court, the SC said the general rule is that only the government can file such a petition or an individual who has a claim to the position from which the ouster is sought.
This means, the SC said, that for Pamatong to have legal standing to file the quo warranto, he should have been a candidate who ran for president against Duterte during the 2016 national elections and lost.
According to the High Court, Pamatong’s Certificate of Candidacy for the presidential post in the 2016 polls had been disapproved by the Commission on Elections after he was found to be a nuisance candidate.
The SC said his disqualification was affirmed by the Court with finality on January 12, 2016.
In seeking the quo warranto petition against Duterte, Pamatong argued his substitution of Martin Diño as PDP-Laban presidential bet was invalid in the first place because Diño was a nuisance candidate.
Duterte had filed a CoC for mayor of Davao under the party Hugpong sa Tawong Lungsod before the substitution.