Candidates running unopposed still need to be voted in, says Brillantes

Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Candidates running unopposed in the 2013 midterm elections should not be too confident of their victory, according to the Commission on Elections.

People running without rivals cannot be declared winners unless someone actually votes for them,  said Comelec Chair Sixto Brillantes Jr.

He said these candidates must remind their supporters during the designated campaign season, which is three months prior the elections, to vote for them on election day.

“Even if they are unopposed candidates, we need to open at least one ballot box before proclaiming the winners,”  Brillantes told reporters as he explained that the election body still needed to have a record of votes for these unchallenged candidates.

In automated elections, the Comelec would have to wait for data from one precinct to be transmitted before it could proclaim an unchallenged candidate a winner.  But such candidate needs only one vote to win, said Brillantes.

At least 640 aspirants have filed certificates of candidacy to participate in the congressional derby next year. Of these, 18  are running unopposed, including incumbent Representatives Manny Pacquiao of Sarangani, Rodolfo Fariñas of Ilocos Norte and Enrique Cojuangco of Tarlac.

The other unopposed candidates are Representatives Josephine Lacson-Noel of Malabon, Ma. Theresa Bonoan-David of Manila, Marcelino Reyes of Marikina, Jose Christopher Belmonte of Quezon City, Maria Rachel Arenas of Pangasinan, Dakila Cua of Quirino province, Reynaldo Umali of Oriental Mindoro,  Gerald Anthony Gullas of Cebu, Maria Carmen Zamora and Rommel Amatong of Compostela Valley, Erple John Amante of Agusan del Norte, Joseph Gilbert Violago and Joseph Francisco of Nueva Ecija, and Joel Roy and Isidro Rodriguez Jr. of Rizal.