Case Digest: Pormento vs Estrada

ISSUE:  Whether or not Joseph Estrada is disqualified to run for presidency in the May 2010 elections according to the phrase in the Constitution which states that "the President shall not be eligible for any re-election. 

FACTS:  Atty. Pormento filed a petition for disqualification against former President Joseph Estrada for being a presidential candidate in the May 2010 elections. The petition was denied by COMELEC second division and subsequently by COMELEC en banc. Pormento then filed the present petition for certiorari before the Court. In the meantime, Estrada was able to participate as a candidate for President in the May 10, 2010 elections where he garnered the second highest number of votes. 

DECISION:  Dismissed 

RATIO DECIDENDI:  No. There is no actual controversy in the case at bar. The respondent did not win the second time he ran. The issue on the proper interpretation of the phrase "any re- election" will be premised on a person second election as President. Assuming an actual case or controversy existed prior to the proclamation of a President who has been duly elected in the May 10, 2010 elections; the same is no longer true today. Following the results of that election, private respondent was not elected President for the second time. Thus, any discussion of his "re-election" will simply be hypothetical and speculative. It will serve no useful or practical purpose.