PDP-Laban hits Comelec for the way it vets bets

Martin Diño. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Candidates should not be considered a “nuisance” just because they are not wealthy, according to Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, who called on the Commission on Elections to review its procedures for disqualifying candidates.

Pimentel made the call after the Comelec’s legal department sought to declare Martin Diño, erstwhile presidential candidate of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), a “nuisance” for failing to show that he could fund a national campaign.

Pimentel, PDP-Laban president, acknowledged the issue was moot since Diño had withdrawn from the presidential race. But he blasted the Comelec legal department for being “arbitrary” and “matapobre [discriminatory against the poor].”

The PDP-Laban would have fought for Diño had he not backed out, Pimentel said. The party hopes to substitute Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte for Diño.

“With this case of Martin Diño, the Comelec should review its process [for declaring nuisance candidates]. It’s too arbitrary, it’s too antiparticipatory. Even people from the middle class want to serve the country,” said Pimentel.

 ‘A mockery’

The Comelec law department, in recommending that Diño be disqualified, said he had put the election process in mockery, had no bona fide intention to run for office, and had not presented proof that he could sustain the financial rigors of a nationwide campaign.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the Comelec’s entertaining the idea the candidate of the PDP-Laban is a nuisance. We are a recognized party. We have had both winners and losers [in elections],” Pimentel said.

He said the PDP-Laban, an accredited party, backed Diño’s run, so it could not be said that he was not a serious candidate.

He said that in questioning Diño’s lack of funds despite being backed by a party, it was as if the Comelec added another requirement for candidates.

“Does this mean candidates for President would have to show their bank accounts?” he said.

As to the allegation that Diño had no real intention to run, he said the Comelec should have no say in the internal processes of the party. For all it knew, the PDP-Laban could have been considering Diño as its presidential candidate three or for months ago, he said.

Moreover, he accused the Comelec of discriminating against PDP-Laban given its statement questioning Diño’s capability to fund a national campaign.

He pointed out that PDP-Laban had been accredited since 1982, and had fielded national candidates despite its relative lack of funds. He himself successfully ran for senator in 2013 under the party, although he was also carried by the administration slate.