DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte finally decided to join the presidential race next year after he withdrew his certificate of candidacy (COC) for mayor in the province and filed his COC for president under the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban).
Duterte replaced Martin Diño, who withdrew his candidacy for president after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) law department initiated a motu proprio petition for his disqualification being a nuisance candidate.
Possible running mate
Sen. Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., meanwhile, welcomed the statement of Sen Aquilino Pimentel that their political party, the PDP-Laban is considering Marcos to be Duterte’s running mate for the upcoming 2016 general elections.
“Aaminin ko na merong mga members of the party na siya [Marcos] ang gusto,” Pimentel said.
“If somebody supports me, why will I turn that down? Of course, not. I will always welcome anyone’s support,” Marcos said.
“Anything is possible in Philippine politics and that this election has turned out to be unique, including many nontraditional arrangements.”
Using the words of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, Marcos said that what they are forming with each other is a loose coalition. “We will have to find out and make our own way with Sen. Miriam to define exactly what our coalition will be,” Marcos said.
Mockery
In its petition, the Comelec law department accused Diño of putting the election process in mockery as he clearly has no intention of running for president.
A certain lawyer Salvador Medialdea filed Duterte’s COC on his behalf at the Comelec law department shortly before noon on Friday.
Duterte attached his certificate of nomination and acceptance from the PDP-Laban.
Political parties are allowed until December 10 to name substitute candidates.
Duterte’s decision to run came after the Senate Electoral Tribunal (SET) junked the quo warranto case filed by presidential aspirant Rizalito David seeking the disqualification case of Senator and 2016 presidential wannabe Sen. Grace Poe on the ground that she is not a natural-born Filipino citizen being a foundling.
The Davao mayor insisted Poe has failed to prove that she is a natural-born Filipino citizen, thus, should not be allowed to sit in the Senate or run in the coming presidential elections.
He had challenged Poe to produce her birth mother to prove that she is Filipino.
Legal obstacles
Earlier, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said Duterte’s bid for presidency could face legal obstacles.
Macalintal raised two issues that might nullify Duterte’s presidential ambition—the apparent error in Diño’s COC, which indicates that he is running for mayor of Pasay City and the Comelec law department’s motu propio petition to declare him a nuisance candidate.
“If the basis of the substitution of Duterte is the COC of Diño, from what I know, there may be some legal impediments. One is because he filed to run for Pasay City mayor, not for president,” Macalintal said.
“As you know, once he is declared as a nuisance candidate, it is tantamount to no COC being submitted. That will also pose as a problem,” he added.
For his part, Former Comelec Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. said he believes that Duterte is qualified to be PDP-Laban’s new standard bearer as it is allowed by existing rules.
“The official candidate of PDP-Laban has withdrawn his COC. The grounds in fielding a substitute are death, disqualification and withdrawal. Diño withdrew, so he can be replaced,” Brillantes said.
Section 19 of Comelec Resolution 9984 provides that an official candidate of a duly registered political party or coalition who dies, withdraws, or is disqualified for any cause after the last day for the filing of COCs may be substituted by a candidate belonging to, and nominated by, the same political party or coalition.
However, no substitution due to withdrawal shall be allowed by the Comelec after December 10.
31 comments
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