FORMER Ilocos Sur governor Luis “Chavit” Singson has announced his withdrawal from this year’s Senate race, but the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said his name will remain in the official ballots to be used in the May 2025 national and local elections.
On Sunday, Singson told his supporters during a gathering at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City that he was quitting the Senate electoral contest due to health reasons.
The 83-year-old former local executive, who was hospitalized due to pneumonia, said he didn’t want to sacrifice his health in the campaign.
“Hindi po biro ang kampanya, lalo na ang trabaho ng isang senador, kung talagang mag-tatrabaho. Ayaw kong ipilit. Ang aking kalusugan ay maaring magdusa (Campaigning is tedious, and being a senator is doubly hard if one will really work. I don’t want to take a risk. My health would likely suffer if I proceed [with my candidacy],” he said.
Singson ranked between 22nd and 24th with a 11.5 percent voting preference in the December 2024 Pulse Asia survey.
Elections chairman George Garcia said the Comelec can no longer delete Singson in the list of senatorial candidates as they have already started printing the official ballots.
“Should we reprint the ballots? No. We will push forward. The name of the candidate will remain,” Garcia said.
He said votes that will be cast for Singson will not be counted and will be considered as stray votes.
Garcia, however, said that as of yesterday afternoon, Singson has yet to formally inform the Comelec about his withdrawal.
According to Garcia, a political aspirant must personally file his withdrawal before the Comelec for it to become official.
“If a candidate withdraws, it must be done personally and not through his authorized representatives. Without that, he will remain as an official candidate,” he said.
He also said Singson is not entitled to be substituted as the period to substitute a candidate who withdraws his certificate of candidacy has lapsed.
Singson is one of the 66 senatorial bets in the May 2025 polls.
He gained national prominence in October 2000 when he exposed corruption in the administration of then-president Joseph Estrada.
His revelations about Estrada’s alleged ties to gambling triggered a series of events that led to Estrada’s impeachment and subsequently, his resignation in January 2001.
Meanwhile, a non-government organization urged the Comelec to finalize its decision to exclude Marikina city mayor Marcelino Teodoro from the city’s first district congressional race.
“Swift action from the Comelec will demonstrate their commitment to protecting every voter’s right. If the rule of law does not prevail, the Filipino people will lose the essence of democracy,” said Ben Cyrus Ellorin, chairman of the Pinoy Aksyon for Governance and the Environment Inc., said.
The Comelec First Division cancelled Teodoro’s COC on December 11, 2024 over residency issues.
In its ruling, the Comelec said that Teodoro failed to prove that he has been a resident of the first district “for at least one year before the May 2025 elections.”
Teodoro has appealed the division’s decision.
In a related development, the Comelec yesterday reported that the automated election system (AES) that will be used in this year’s polls has no problems and issues.
Garcia said its international certification entity, Pro V&V, has completed the independent testing of the automated counting machines (ACMs) and consolidation and canvassing system (CCS) to be used by the poll body.
“Pro V&V officially turned over to us the codes that prove that our CCS and ACMs have no problems or defects or whatever,” he said.
“This means that the Comelec is now ready to use the ACMs and the CCS for the elections,” he added.
Under the law, an established international certification entity to be chosen by the poll body must categorically state that the AES, including its hardware and software components, is operating properly, securely, and accurately.
With the codes given the seal of approval by Pro V&V, the Comelec yesterday conducted the final trusted build of the ACMs and CCS.
It involved the compiling of the final, verified, and approved source codes into executable machine-readable code that will be used by the AES.
The data storage devices containing the codes were then sealed and turned over to the Comelec for safekeeping.
“We will place this in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas so that they will be fully protected and secured,” Garcia said.
He said the Pro V&V is still expected to complete the independent testing of the Online Voting and Counting System (OVCS). – With Christian Oineza