A LAWYER has asked the Supreme Court to order the ouster of Vice President Jejomar Binay from his post as national president of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and to declare his holding of such position unconstitutional.
Jesus Nicardo Falcis III also asked the Court to stop Binay from further discharging his duties in the BSP in a 12-page petition.
Falcis made his move even as Binay’s camp on Friday said he will give priority to poverty alleviation and help uplift the lives of the more than 11 million Filipinos who consider themselves poor.
“The recent Social Weather Stations survey showed that 50 percent or around 11 million Filipinos consider themselves poor,” Binay spokesman Rico Quicho said.
“It validates the vice president’s position that poverty is the moral issue that needs to be addressed by the next administration.”
But Quicho said the BSP was not a government corporation, and that its officers were volunteers who were elected every year.
More importantly, he said, Binay does not receive compensation as BSP chairman.
Falcis had earlier filed a petition with the high court seeking to allow same-sex marriage in the country.
He says Binay cannot hold another office apart from his elective post-under Section 13, Article VII of the Constitution.
He invoked his “clear and unmistakable right to be protected” in filing the petition.
“There is material and substantial invasion of such right… There is an urgent need for the writ to prevent irreparable injury to the applicant,” he said.
“Petitioner submits that the continued holding by Binay of the office of the president of BSP concurrently with the office of the Vice President constitutes irreparable injury since the invasion of petitioner’s right cannot be adequately compensated in damages,” Falcis said.