Solon wants bets seeking to profit from polls declared nuisance

A lawmaker has proposed the inclusion of possible profiteering from the elections as a legal ground by which the Commission on Elections (Comelec) could declare an individual as a nuisance candidate in light of the record number of people who have filed their certificates of candidacy (COC) to run for president in the May 2016 elections.

House Bill 6252 filed by Valenzuela City Rep. Shewin Gatchalian seeks to amend Sections 69, 261 (CC) and 264 of Batas Pambansa Blg. 881, otherwise known as the Omnibus Election Code of the Philippines, as amended, by adding a provision for classifying a candidate as a nuisance candidate.

The measure also seeks to impose a P50,000 fine for anyone who would be declared a nuisance candidate, to be paid to the Comelec.

Under the bill, a nuisance candidate is defined as one who files a COC to obtain money, profit, or any other consideration; or one who has been found, after due notice and hearing, to have no bona fide intention to run for the office for which the COC has been filed.

These grounds will be added to the current provisions in the Omnibus Election Code which defines a nuisance candidate as one who files a COC:

• to put the election process in mockery or disrepute;
• to cause confusion among the voters by the similarity of the names of the registered candidates or by other circumstances; or
• acts that clearly demonstrate that the candidate has no bona fide intention to run for office for which the COC has been filed.

While Gatchalian acknowledged that the 1987 Constitution guarantees equal access to opportunities for public service, he said a recent resolution of the Supreme Court stressed that running for public office “is a privilege, not a right.”

Joining the elections as a candidate, he said, “is subject to the limitations imposed by law and must take into account practical considerations.”

Gatchalian said that while the Comelec is mandated by law to receive COCs, the onslaught of candidates who do not intend nor have the logistical capacity to launch a viable campaign unnecessarily engender additional financial burden for the poll body.

Last month, a total of 130 individuals filed COCs for president at the Comelec’s main office in Manila.

Aside from well-known incumbent and former politicians, among those who applied to become the next Chief Executive include a 51-year-old volunteer missionary who introduced himself as Archangel Lucifer, as well as a man who claimed to be an "intergalactic space ambassador.”

Only 19 individuals, however, filed their COCs for vice president while the number of filers of COC for senator reached 172.

The Comelec will release the final list of candidates for next year’s national and local elections on December 10. —ALG, GMA News