(Updated 4:12 p.m.) Election lawyer Romulo Macalintal has asked the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to move the filing of certificates of candidacy for the May 2013 elections from October to November this year supposedly to prevent appointed government officials from “circumventing the law.”
 
Macalintal, whose past clients included former President and incumbent Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, met with Comelec chairman Sixto Brillantes on Wednesday morning to request for the filing to be moved from Oct. 1 to 5 to Nov. 15 to 20.  

The Comelec said it has set the submission of COCs at an earlier date to prepare for the printing of ballots.

Government officials are deemed resigned from their posts after submitting their COCs, according to the Comelec guidelines as stated in Resolution No. 95.
 
Dummy candidates
 
To circumvent the guidelines, Macalintal said some government officials could ask “dummies” to file COCs for them on designated electoral positions. By December 21, the deadline for substitution, government officials would then come in to replace the dummy candidates.
  
The guidelines allow substitution on candidates who have died, withdrawn or were disqualified for any cause.
 
Extending the filing of COCs would give government officials the opportunity not to resign from their posts early, Macalintal said.
 
“Kawawa naman sila kasi maaga silang magre-resign. What would they do from October 5 until the elections day?” he asked.
 
He added that an extension would not be a problem since candidates can still be substituted until December.
 
“Hanggang December 21 naman  pala ang substitution, so bakit naman dapat October 1 ang filing eh kung December 21 pwede ka pang magpalitan?” he said.

Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez meanwhile brushed off government “dummies” as a reason to extend, since it would still be an issue if the deadline is set on November.
 
“Wouldn’t the problem still exist if the deadline is in November? It doesn’t solve anything,” Jimenez told GMA News Online in a phone interview.
 
Unlikely extension
 
Jimenez said the “extension of the period beyond October 5 is unlikely” as it would would take up the time needed to settle electoral disputes such as petitions for disqualifications.
 
“If we move it all the way to November and we start printing ballots by January, how do we deal with the petitions for disqualification? So that’s a very short period between [the deadline and the printing of ballots],” Jimenez said.
 
“It shortens the period we have in resolving applications,” he added.
 
The spokesperson cited the case of presidential bet Vetellano Acosta from the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan, who was disqualified as a “nuisance” candidate during the 2010 elections but whose name was still included in the ballot at the time when the deadline of filing was on November.
 
He said the Comelec has not been able to settle the dispute early on because of the late date for filing of COCs.
 
“The reason [we’re] fine-tuning our procedures is because [we’re] seeing one sort of problem cropped up in the past… It became confusion later on. Nagawa na ‘yung balota, meron pa rin mga ‘di pa tapos na mga problema,” he said.

Automated elections
 
Macalintal said the Comelec could still extend the filing of COCs even in automated elections, citing that for the May 2010 polls, filing of COCs was set on November 20 to 30.
 
“At the time, bagong-bago pa ang automated noon. Eh bakit hindi pwedeng mag-extend ngayon?” Macalintal told GMA News Online in a phone interview, adding that the Comelec could still allow an extension since it should now be capable of handling an automated election.
 
“Ngayon we already have the experience in the automated election, there is no reason that the Comelec cannot make it also sometime in November ang deadline of the filing of COCs,” Macalintal said.
 
Jimenez, for his part, said Macalintal’s reason is an “invalid argument.”

“That was 2010. Does that mean we do it every single election exactly the same way we did it in the past? ... It’s an invalid argument that you were able to do it before,” he said.

He noted too that the Comelec has made the filing earlier since they “have learned” from their experiences in the 2010 elections. “We wanted to fine-tune. We wanted to improve. We don’t want to be stuck in a place where we know a problem will arise.”
 
Meanwhile, Commissioner Rene Sarmiento in an earlier report said an extension is only possible based “on justifiable grounds.”

“If there are justifiable reasons, baka. But as it is now, October 5 pa rin ang deadline,” he said.
 
For the voters
 
Macalintal also said an extension could give more time for candidates to resolve their pending voter’s registration, which is a requirement in the filing of COC.
 
Also, an extension would allow the Comelec to decide on pending registrations of certain political parties, Macalintal said.
 
Macalintal noted that the extension should not benefit the candidates only, but more so for the voters. For one, extending the deadline would give more time for political parties to choose qualified candidates to run for the polls. At the same time, an extension would ensure more qualified candidates for the voters to choose from.
 
This, the lawyer said, would “strengthen the political system.”
 
“Hindi lang ito para sa mga kandidato. Makakatulong ito sa mga voters… Kapag hasty ang pamimili ng kandidito, we are not sure of the quality of the leaders that we will be electing,” Macalintal said.

Asked for a comment, Jimenez said finishing up the list of qualified candidates is the “political parties’ problem, not ours.” — KBK, GMA News