By Vanne Elaine Terrazola
Sen. Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III has called on Commission on Elections (Comelec) to speed up its ruling on the two disqualification petitions against his bid for reeelection.
Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III
(Senate of the Philippines / Facebook / MANILA BULLETIN)
In an interview over DWIZ Saturday, Pimentel appealed to the poll body to resolve once and for all the issues raised against his candidacy for the May, 2019 senatorial polls.
He faces two disqualification cases in the Comelec, filed by lawyers Ferdinand Topacio and Glenn Chong, who both claimed that his reelection bid would be unconstitutional since he would supposedly violate the three-term limit for senators.
"Dapat desisyonan na 'yan ng Comelec sa lalong madaling panahon. Part 'yan ng justice system so sana hindi din tayo mahulog doon sa 'Justice delayed is justice denied.' Bilisan na po nila 'yong desisyon diyan (The Comelec should decide on these at the soonest possible time. It is part of the country's justice system, and we don't want to fall under the 'Justice delayed is justice denied.' They should expedite their decision)," Pimentel appealed.
Pimentel maintained his confidence he would win the cases, saying the two lawyers' positions "have no merits" since there already were jurisprudence to support his candidacy.
He added that even law students knew that he should be allowed to seek reelection.
The lawmaker believes that "political forces" were behind the complaints, claiming that Topacio and Chong have no intention of winning but only politicking and availing of media mileage.
He said his camp will investigate who may be behind such move.
"Dapat mabilis na nilang i-resolve yan, kasi habang pending 'yan merong side na natututwa. Kasi nga ang pupose lang ng side na 'yon ay magkaroon lang ng issue...Di naman nila objective na manalo sa legal issues kasi alam na na nila 'yong sagot eh," he said.
Pimentel, meanwhile, thanked Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, his rival for the 12th winning spot in the 2017 senatorial elections, for backing his candidacy.