MANILA — A petition to cancel the Certificate of Candidacy (COC) of Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III was filed before the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Monday, the last day to file petitions to deny due course or cancel COC filed for next year’s polls.
“Senator Pimentel is ineligible to run as such under the two consecutive term limit rule as provided under the 1987 Constitution. Senator Pimentel’s COC for senator for the 2019 elections should be denied due course or cancelled due to material misrepresentation on his eligibility,” lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said in a nine-page petition.
Topacio also cited Section 4, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, which provides that no senator shall serve for more than two consecutive terms.
“Having already served for two consecutive terms as a senator, Pimentel is clearly ineligible to run for the same office as, otherwise, his election would allow him to serve for more than two consecutive terms,” Topacio said.
Pimentel ran for senator in the 2007 polls and lost the 12th and last place to Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri. He filed an electoral protest before Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) against the latter. In August 2011, the SET proclaimed him as the duly-elected senator.
The senator ran for re-election in the 2013 elections and won another six-year term.
Last week, Pimentel was the first to file a COC for senator in connection with the May 2019 mid-term elections. ( Ferdinand Patinio/PNA)
