THE Commission on Elections (Comelec) is not in favor of banning the substitution of an aspirant who withdraws after filing a certificate of candidacy.
Comelec spokesman James Jimenez yesterday said substitution is an essential part of the election system and suggested that Congress instead place “additional restrictions” for substitution.
Bills have been filed in the Senate and the House of Representatives seeking to stop substitution which lawmakers said have been abused.
“We see substitution as a necessary remedy under the law,” said Jimenez in a TV interview. “That right is, we believe, essential to the elections.”
Instead of prohibiting substitution, Jimenez said it might be better if it will be controlled. He said the requirement for substitution must not only be that the substitute is a member of the same political party as that who withdrew. He did not say what additional requirements should be in place.
Under Comelec rules, an aspirant/official candidate of a duly registered political party, who dies, withdraws, or is disqualified after the last day for the filing of COCs may be substituted by an aspirant/official candidate belonging to, and nominated by the same political party.
Jimenez also said under the system, aspirants who are not members of the political party of the withdrawing candidate can become substitutes just by joining another party.
“Right now, people can actually switch political parties in order to make a substitution happen. That weakness of the political party system is in fact a loophole,” he said.
Jimenez said even independent bets can become party members to qualify as a substitute candidate.
“A person, who is running independent, can actually join a political party and then substitute for someone before the end of the substitution period,” said Jimenez.
The deadline for substitution is November 15.
Jimenez also hinted of changes in rules for campaigning for the May 2022 polls amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There will be some major changes,” he said but did not give details.
He earlier said more and more candidates will be tapping online and social media for their campaign activities.
Face-to-face campaigning, however, is not expected to phased out, according to Jimenez, as there are still communities that have no access to different modes of information technology.
Jimenez also reiterated that the Comelec cannot hold accountable aspirants who are conducting caravans, motorcades, and political rallies ahead of the campaign period that starts on February 8 for national posts and March 25 for local posts.
“All of these activities, the caravans, all the rallies that are being held left and right, all of these are actually legal,” he said in a TV interview.
“There’s nothing we can really do about it because the law itself doesn’t penalize this kind of behavior,” he added.
Over the weekend, motorcades and caravans and political rallies were held in different parts of the country for different political aspirants.
The Poll Automation Law provides that “any person who files his certificate of candidacy shall only be considered as a candidate at the start of the campaign period,” and that “unlawful acts applicable to a candidate shall be in effect only upon the start of the campaign period.”
This provision was affirmed by the 2009 Supreme Court case of Penera vs. Comelec, which paved the way for the removal of premature campaigning as an election offense.
