The Commission on Elections is likely to delete the name of Roy Señeres from the official ballots for the May 9 elections, the printing of which is expected to start on Monday.
“On Monday we’ll still have a dry run [of the ballot printing process] before [we go full blast]. Chances are we will also come up with the final list of candidates” said Comelec Chair Andres Bautista.
“For me, if he (Señeres) really wants to withdraw from the race, we will not prevent him from doing so. We can’t force anyone [to run]. If he’s backing out, then definitely we will accept the withdrawal,” he added.
Señeres, a sitting House representative of the OFW Family Club party-list group, announced the other day that he was withdrawing from the presidential race for health reasons.
His daughter Hannah and spokesperson Candelaria Rivas went to the Comelec main office in Manila on Friday to file a statement of cancellation and withdrawal of candidacy on his behalf.
However, the Comelec law department refused to accept it because Comelec rules require that the document be filed in person by the candidate.
Bautista explained that statements of cancellation and withdrawal of candidacies had to be filed in person because there had been instances, particularly in the local races, where the withdrawal of certificates of candidacy were initiated by rival candidates as part of their campaign strategy.
“But in his (Señeres’) case, his daughter and lawyer came saying he was sick. We just have to clarify, but maybe we should accept, that’s the plan,” he said.
Seneres’ lawyer had promised to have Señeres’ statement of cancellation/withdrawal filed by Monday or Tuesday.
Bautista said that candidates may back out of the race even close to the election date.
He said he saw no problem with regard to timetable for the printing of ballots.
“Even if we start on Feb. 8, [we can still do it]. If we delete names of candidates who withdrew from the race as well as the names of disqualified senatorial aspirants, not only will we be able to clean the official ballot, printing will also become faster since the ballot becomes shorter,” he said, adding that they were still trying to finalize the ballot size.
The Comelec earlier said another reason why the ballot will be shorter than in previous polls is that there is better management of the space in the ballot.