SENATOR WIN: SUBSTITUTION IS A MOCKERY

ARGUING that some political parties are making a mockery of the electoral process, Sen. Sherwin Garchalian last week filed a bill banning the option to substitute a candidate who voluntarily withdraws candidacy in any forthcoming elections.

Senate Majority Leader Miguel Zubiri, Senators Nancy Binay, Grace Poe, and Joel Villanueva co-authored the bill, which seeks to amend Section 77 of the Omnibus Election Code that allows substitution to replace an official candidate of a registered or accredited political party who dies, disqualified for any cause or withdraws from the electoral race.

In an interview over my radio program on DZXL, Gatchalian emphasized that, “what we want banned is the withdrawal because this is being abused by people who have really no intention to run.”

Saying that the ban will cover all electoral positions, the senator likened the act of substitution to a parking space where some car owners would “put someone in the slot until such time when he comes in to place his own vehicle.”

“The process is sacred but some people are making a mockery of it. We will also revisit the intention of the framers of the law at the time it was being crafted,” he added.

Gatchalian said the objective of limiting the grounds for substitution is aimed at further strengthening and institutionalizing the political party system and leveling the election playing field.

Today, some political parties are trying to use substitution as a means to gain mileage after then Davao mayor Rodrigo Duterte successfully employed this strategy in the 2016 elections.

President Duterte initially filed his COC for Davao City mayor while Martin Diño filed his COC for president, only to withdraw on October 29 after “the Comelec informed him that they might declare him a nuisance candidate because he supposedly lacks funds to carry out a nationwide drive.”

The timing was perfect that PR groups who were belatedly paid to destroy Digong’s image were caught off guard.

The rest, as the old cliché goes, is already history.

Last October, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte filed her candidacy for a third term, while Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, who hastily summoned by the PDP-Laban leaders,” filed his COC for president two hours before the deadline.”

If the ploy worked in 2016 then it might also work this time around.

The only hitch is that Inday Sara does not belong to the PDP-Laban and from the looks of it she’s hell bent on sticking to her plans.

SENATOR WIN: SUBSTITUTION IS A MOCKERY
Source: Filipino Pinoys