By ADRIAN STEWART CO
MANILA – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has dismissed the motion for reconsideration seeking to prevent Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder Pastor Apollo Quiboloy from running in the Senate next year.
In a seven-page ruling made public over the weekend, the Comelec en banc junked the motion for reconsideration filed by labor leader and senatorial aspirant Sonny Matula for lack of merit.
The poll body insisted in their latest ruling that Matula failed to raise a valid ground in the motion that would compel the Comelec en banc to rule against the earlier verdict of the First Division.
“We find no cogent reason to depart from the Assailed Resolution of the Commission (First Division). The arguments raised by Petitioner in his Motion were already thoroughly passed upon and incisively examined by the Commission,” the ruling added.
The Comelec en banc noted that the procedural and substantive issues raised by Matula had already been addressed by the First Division when it decided to allow the televangelist to run in the Senate.
“At the outset, the combination of different remedies and prayers in a petition to declare as nuisance candidate or disqualification or cancellation of a certificate ground is a ground for summary dismissal, and this is clearly and explicitly mandated by our rules,” the decision said.
Comelec also emphasized that even if procedural flaws in the petition were overlooked, the substantive issues were exhaustively discussed and resolved by the First Division.
Matula previously asked Comelec to disqualify Quiboloy due to “material misrepresentation,” stating that the latter’s nomination by the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (WPP) “had no factual and legal basis.”
Matula added that the certificate of nomination and acceptance of Quiboloy was signed by a certain Mark Tolentino, whom he alleged was not an officer or member of the WPP.
Comelec, however, stated that Matula’s failed to comply with its rules that “petition to declare a candidate as a nuisance candidate cannot be combined with other grounds for a separate remedy.”/PN
