A BILL seeking to ban substitution for an aspirant who withdraws after filing a certificate of candidacy was filed by five senators yesterday.
Senate Bill No. 2439, filed by Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, and Joel Villanueva, said a provision in the Omnibus Election Code, which states that substitution is allowed if an aspirant withdraws his or her candidacy “has been abused over the years.”
“This unfortunate practice of just fielding anyone to be a party’s candidate for the sake of complying with the Comelec deadline is observed by some as a mockery of the process of filing COCs,” the senators said.
A similar bill was filed earlier this month at the House of Representatives by deputy speaker Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro.
The Senate bill seeks to “modify the grounds for substitution by removing the option of substitution in cases where an aspirant or official candidate of a political party voluntarily withdraws his candidacy, and adding incapacity as a ground for substitution of candidates.”
Aside from the aspirant’s withdrawal, the two other ways substitution is allowed is if the official candidate dies, or was disqualified for any cause.
They said it is the political party’s responsibility to carefully assess and determine the qualifications of their members and nominate them to qualify as their standard bearers for local and national positions via a party selection system.
Therefore, they said, the chosen party members have undergone a vetting process which include the willingness, sincerity, and commitment of a member to represent their party for the elective post.
“Considering that the country has an election cycle of three years for local positions, and six years for national positions, political parties have sufficient time to nominate and select their respective candidates,” they added.
They noted substitution by withdrawal is allowed only when the candidate is a member of a political party. This, they said, which gives an unreasonable disadvantage to independent candidates.
The issue of substitution is being discussed because of talks that a pro-Duterte faction of the administration party PDP-Laban will eventually field presidential daughter and Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio as standard bearer, vice Sen. Ronald dela Rosa who filed his certificate of candidacy at the last minute.
Dela Rosa has denied he is a “place holder” but admitted he is willing to withdraw in favor of Duterte-Carpio, if she eventually decides to run for president.
Substitution of candidates is allowed up to November 15.
