18 lawmakers don’t have challengers

Election hopefuls running unopposed in the 2013 midterm balloting cannot be too confident of their victory, according to the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

Those running without rivals could only be declared winners until someone actually voted for them, reminded 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 still 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,” said Brillantes in an interview with reporters as he explained that the election body still needed to have a record of votes for these unchallenged candidates.

Under an automated election, 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 their certificates of candidacy to participate in the congressional derby next year. Of these, 18 are running unchallenged, 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.