MANILA - Akbayan party-list Rep. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel on Monday filed a petition before the Commission on Elections seeking to disqualify President Arroyo from running for Congress next year.
In a four-page petition, Hontiveros-Baraquel said Mrs. Arroyo should be barred from running in next year's polls because the Constitution bars the president and vice-president from running for re-election.
"If people in the two highest elective positions are barred for re-election, how much more a lower position? Mrs. Arroyo isn't even qualified to run for barangay tanod," she said.
She added that Mrs. Arroyo's congressional bid also violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution since she could tap government resources for her campaign.
Lawyer Oliver Lozano earlier filed a similar petition to disqualify Arroyo from running in next year's polls. He noted that the 1987 Constitution provides that "the president shall not be eligible for any re-election."
He said the word "any" refers to any elective post, and this includes Arroyo's bid to represent the 2nd district of Pampanga in the House of Representatives.
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