Comelec junks pleas to delay May 9 polls

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi and Sen. Manny Pacquiao. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has “resoundingly” rejected the petition to postpone the May 9 general elections and the petition to allow last-minute political aspirants.

During the commission’s weekly meeting on Wednesday, all seven commissioners voted to deny the petition filed last month by a group called the National Coalition for Life and Democracy to suspend the May elections due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Comelec’s policy-making body also unanimously denied the petition of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) to reopen the filing of certificates of candidacy (COCs).

“Both of them were resoundingly denied,” Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez told reporters by video link after the meeting.

Jimenez earlier said the Comelec will not entertain petitions to suspend the May 9 elections since this will be in violation of the Constitution.

On the petition filed by the PDP-Laban faction aligned with President Duterte, Jimenez said the Comelec rejected the argument that the Oct. 1 to Oct. 8, 2021, deadline to file COCs was arbitrarily set.

The poll body also rejected the PDP-Laban faction’s argument that the commission cannot finalize the list of candidates since there are pending disqualification cases, alluding to the case against presidential aspirant Ferdinand Marcos Jr. over his tax evasion conviction.

“That’s a wrong assertion since it’s not the first time that we will be going to print [ballots] with pending disqualification cases,” Jimenez said.

The petition filed by the faction led by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi also ignored the various preparatory activities for the elections that necessitated setting the period of filing of COCs last Oct. 1 to Oct. 8, Jimenez added.

Enough time

Comelec also gave aspirants until Nov. 15 to substitute or take the place of aspirants who would voluntarily withdraw their COC.

The ruling PDP-Laban party was left without any candidate for both president and vice president.

Sen. Christopher Go earlier filed his COC for vice president under the PDP-Laban’s Cusi wing, but later withdrew it when Mr. Duterte’s daughter, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte, ran for the same position under the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats party.

Go then became a substitute presidential candidate under the Pederalismo ng Dugong Dakilang Samahan party, but eventually dropped out, saying it was not yet the right time.

President Duterte, who was vying for a Senate seat under the same party, also backed out of the race.

Comelec has so far not resolved which PDP-Laban faction it will recognize: the one led by Cusi or the one led by Sen. Manny Pacquiao, with President Duterte aligning himself with the former group.

Meanwhile, Mr Duterte’s latest appointed poll official, Commissioner Rey Bulay, joined the six other commissioners at the meeting on Wednesday.

A former Manila city prosecutor, Bulay’s appointment was confirmed by the bicameral Commission on Appointments last Dec. 1. He officially joined the Comelec on Jan. 3, according to Jimenez.