House approves bill prohibiting substitution for candidate withdrawal

Former President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Sara Duterte | PHOTOS: Official Facebook pages of Rody Duterte and Inday Sara Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — The bill seeking to disallow the substitution of election candidates on mere grounds of withdrawal has been approved by the House of Representatives on the third and final reading.

During the session on Wednesday, House Bill (HB) No. 10524 was approved with 195 lawmakers voting in the affirmative and zero in the negative and abstentions.

If enacted, HB No. 10524 will amend Section 77 of the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines by allowing substitution only if a person who filed his or her certificate of candidacy (COC) becomes permanently incapacitated.

Section 77 will read as: “If after the last day for the filing of certificates of candidacy, an official candidate of a registered or accredited political party dies, BECOMES PERMANENTLY INCAPACITATED, or is disqualified for any cause, only a person belonging to, and certified by, the same political party may file a certificate of candidacy replace the candidate who died, BECAME PERMANENTLY INCAPACITATED, or was disqualified.”

The capitalized words convey the proposed amendments.

The bill was passed a week after it was approved on third reading.

READ: House OKs tighter rules on candidate substitution on 2nd reading

This is not the first time that bills seeking stricter rules on candidate substitution were filed in Congress. In October 2021, bills on the matter were filed in the House and the Senate as lawmakers felt that politicians had abused the substitution provision.

READ: Bill prohibiting candidate substitution due to withdrawal filed

In 2015, then-Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte heeded the public’s call for him to run for president in the 2016 polls, substituting for fellow PDP-Laban member Martin Diño.

Issues hounded the substitution as Diño indicated in his COC that he was running for Pasay City’s mayoral post. Duterte, however, won the presidency in the 2016 polls.

READ: It’s official, Duterte now a candidate for president — Comelec

In November 2021, Duterte’s daughter, then Davao City mayor Sara Duterte, filed her COC as vice president, substituting for Lakas-CMD’s Lyle Uy.

Lawyer Reynold Munsayac filed her COC two days before the deadline for the substitution of candidates on Nov. 15, 2021.

READ: Sara Duterte files COC for vice president under Lakas-CMD

If the current version of HB No. 10524 is maintained, both substitution schemes used by former president Duterte and Vice President Duterte would no longer be allowed.