The decision of the Supreme Court that Pasay City Mayor Peewee Trinidad is eligible to run in the 2010 elections is final.

Trinidad, who suffered the same case when he was suspended from office for six months last Sept. 1, 2006, said that in the 2007 elections, he ran for the mayoral race and won against his political opponent.

Trinidad said the decision on the Aldovino case was cited by the SC in vindicating him, explaining that “it is severance from office, or to be exact, loss of title, that renders the three term limit rule inapplicable.
The law contemplates a complete break from office with no chance of coming back, during which the local official steps down and ceases to exercise power and authority over his constituents.”

With this, Trinidad said he was “removed from office and replaced by another mayor who was appointed in his place”.

“This is not temporary incapacity but this is voluntary severance. The Aldovino and Dizon cases support this doctrine,” Trinidad emphasized.

The mayor stressed that the decision of the Supreme Court should be respected by his political opponents, saying that they (political opponents) are misinforming the public by talking only on the matter of his (Trinidad) suspension which is only half of the story.