Palace shoots down ‘no-el’, term extension fears

Malacanang on Monday pushed for the holding of the 2016 elections on May 9 as provided for in the 1987 Constitution, subsequently allaying fears that it is in the interest of President Benigno Aquino III to delay the elections to extend his term.

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that the elections “must push through.”

“Our only position is we would like the elections to push through, as mandated by the Constitution. So, all the parties –whether the Comelec, whether the Supreme Court, all of them, certainly, will have that interest in mind, that elections must push through and as mandated under the 1987 Constitution,” Lacierda said.

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair Andres Bautista recently floated the idea of delaying the May 9 elections due to the implications of the Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) on Comelec’s “No Bio, No Boto” policy.

READ: TRO on ‘no bio’ perils polls–Comelec

The high court’s TRO prevented the poll body from invalidating voters who did not have their biometrics taken in accordance to Republic Act 10367 or the Mandatory Biometrics Registration Act of 2013.

On fears that the “no-election” scenario is a way for the Palace to extend Aquino’s term in office, Lacierda said that they cannot wait to leave.

“We are counting the number of days left. How many days do we have? We have 206 days left and we cannot wait to leave — for the President to take his long-delayed break.”

“It’s 206 days left. So we would like to hand over the government to the next administration, whoever the people choose to succeed President Aquino,” he said. CDG

READ: Voters with corrupted, incomplete biometrics can still vote in 2016 – Comelec